Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Young of Cookham on 5 February (HL13233), what was their assessment of the spot checks carried out by (1) the Mystery Shopper Service, and (2) the Public Procurement Review Service; and what actions were taken as a result.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
Of the spot checks on compliance with Regulation 113 (7) of the Public Contracting Regulations 2015 the Mystery Shopper team identified an initial 32% compliance rate 2015/16. After the team reminded the bodies concerned that they are required to comply with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, there was an increase in compliance to 80% December 2018. All public bodies not complying with the regulations were notified of their obligation to do so
The Mystery Shopper team was renamed the Public Procurement Review Service (PPRS) team in November 2018. Results for the PPRS are yet to be fully assessed.
A summary of the findings from spot checks conducted by the PPRS team will be included in the PPRS Progress Report, which will be published later this year.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what provisions they have put in place for whistleblowing concerning payment performance data published by public authorities as required by sections 113(7) and 113(8) of the Public Service Contracts Regulations 2015.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
Public procurement regulations do not contain requirements for public bodies to include auditing or whistleblowing policies in the operational delivery and management of public contracts.
Public bodies in scope of these regulations are individually responsible for ensuring the accuracy of their own data prior to publication, and operate their own whistleblowing policies.
The Government encourages whistleblowers to get independent advice (e.g. from Citizens Advice) to ensure that they are adequately protected.
Public sector suppliers that have not been paid on time can raise the issue with the Public Procurement Review Service.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government who is responsible for auditing the payment performance data published by public authorities as required by sections 113(7) and 113(8) of the Public Service Contracts Regulations 2015; and what processes they use for such audits.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
Public procurement regulations do not contain requirements for public bodies to include auditing or whistleblowing policies in the operational delivery and management of public contracts.
Public bodies in scope of these regulations are individually responsible for ensuring the accuracy of their own data prior to publication, and operate their own whistleblowing policies.
The Government encourages whistleblowers to get independent advice (e.g. from Citizens Advice) to ensure that they are adequately protected.
Public sector suppliers that have not been paid on time can raise the issue with the Public Procurement Review Service.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what guidance and advice had been provided by the Mystery Shopper Service to small and medium-sized businesses about their statutory entitlement to claim interest and compensation for late payment by public bodies; and what plans they have to provide further guidance and advice via the Public Procurement Review Service.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
The Late Payment Directive guidance explains who is responsible for claiming interest on overdue payments and how interest is calculated. This is published on gov.uk at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/late-payment-directive-user-guide-to-the-recast-directive
The Public Procurement Review Service (PPRS) refers suppliers to this guidance where appropriate. The supplier will need to initiate the interest payment process with the Contracting Authority. No other advice is provided by PPRS on this and the service is not involved in providing compensation to suppliers.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Young of Cookham on 22 January (HL12843), how many overdue payment cases were reported to the Mystery Shopper Service in 2018; of those, how many were resolved; and of those resolved, how many resulted in successful claims for interest and compensation payments.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
In 2018 there were 75 overdue payment cases reported to the Public Procurement Review Service (PPRS). 58 of these have been resolved, 6 of these are still open and 11 cases were either rejected or collapsed.
The PPRS team does not keep a record of how many suppliers claimed late interest payments.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Young of Cookham on 22 January (HL12843), how much in interest and compensation was (1) owed, (2) claimed, and (3) paid to those suppliers who received late payments from public bodies following resolution by the Mystery Shopper Service in 2018.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
The Public Procurement Service (PPRS) does not keep a record of the interest claimed on late payments. Interest is claimed by a supplier after a case has been resolved, and not reported back to the PPRS team.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what was (1) the annual budget, and (2) the staffing level of the Mystery Shopper Service; and what are the planned annual budget and staffing level of its successor body, the Public Procurement Review Service.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
The Mystery Shopper was renamed the Public Procurement Review Service on 29 November 2018
The budget for the Public Procurement Review Service is allocated within the overall budget for the Small Business Policy Team in the Cabinet Office. At present there are four full time members of staff and one part time (0.6 FTE) member of staff working on the Public Procurement Review Service
The staffing budget for the Small Business Policy Team in 2017/18 was £847,000, and the total spend for the Small Business Policy Team was £968,000
The staffing budget for the Small Business Policy Team in 2018/19 is £971,900, and the total spend for the Small Business Policy Team is £1,094,700
The number of staff who worked in the Mystery Shopper team since the service commenced in 2011 can be viewed at the following link: https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2019-01-18/210027/
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Young of Cookham on 22 January (HL12844), what is the data source for their claim that the amount owed to smaller businesses in late payments has more than halved in the past five years; and what was the amount owed to small businesses in late payments in each of the past five years.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
The statement in HL12844 was from Kelly Tolhurst MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary for the Department for Business, Enterprise and Industrial Strategy, and can be viewed
at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ending-late-payments-to-small-businesses
The overall level of late payment debt owed to small and medium sized businesses is reported by BACS Late Payment Data. In July 2017, this was reported as £14.2bn, more than halving from £30.2bn in 2012.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Young of Cookham on 23 January (HL12960), how many spot checks the Public Procurement Review Service will undertake to ensure public bodies are complying with their duty to report late payment performance, and by what date; and how many spot check exercises were previously completed by its predecessor the Mystery Shopper Service.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
There were 52 spot checks completed by the Mystery Shopper Service since the introduction of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. The Public Procurement Review Service has completed 88 checks within this financial year. There is an ongoing programme of spot checks which we target to the trends identified. We report findings from our spot check programme in the Public Procurement Review Service progress report which is produced annually.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Young of Cookham on 22 January (HL12843), how many businesses had their late payment cases resolved by the Mystery Shopper Service in 2018; and what was the average value of those cases.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
In 2018 the service resolved 54 payment cases for 22 different businesses. The mean value of outstanding amounts was £31,599.58. (Total range in values is from £98.65 to £275,112.00).