Draft Companies (Directors' Report) (Payment Reporting) Regulations 2025

Daisy Cooper Excerpts

Tuesday 21st October 2025 General Committees

[Daisy Cooper (St Albans) (LD)]

I welcome the Minister to his place.

When it comes to the treatment of small businesses, there are two things that get right up people’s noses. The first is the big David and Goliath fights that sometimes happen between big companies and their small suppliers; the other is regulators that are tasked with tackling those problems, but can do nothing about them, because they do not have the teeth. Fundamentally, we are a country that believes in fairness, and late payments are a problem that is deeply unfair and unjust, and can be existential for some small businesses.

The Liberal Democrats welcome this extra transparency on payment practices and performance; it will really help. We support this measure, and we hope very much that the Government will power ahead with introducing additional powers for the Small Business Commissioner so that they can launch proactive investigations, rather than passively receiving complaints. Would the Minister like to say a word or two on that?

If I may test your patience for a second more, Ms Vaz, it is Small Business Saturday in just under seven weeks’ time, on 6 December—just a few days after the Budget. We know that transparency and improved regulation matter to small businesses, but the tax burden matters too. I urge the Government to ensure that, by the time Small Business Saturday arrives, there is some more good news for small businesses to be happy about.