Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that invoices from small and medium businesses are paid on time by (a) Government and (b) non-governmental businesses.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government’s manifesto commits to making sure that businesses are paid on time.
At the end of Q3 2019/20 (the most recent complete set of data):
o 7 of the 16 largest departments were meeting the target of 90% payment within 5 days.
o 13 of the 16 departments were paying at least 95% of their invoices within the 30 day target, with 5 departments achieving 99% or more.
The Government is also taking action to simplify the application process for small businesses wanting to supply to the Government and to increase visibility of subcontracting opportunities. Our ambition is that all departments pay 90% of valid and undisputed invoices from SMEs within 5 days and 100% of valid and undisputed invoices within 30 days.
The Government acknowledges that late payment remains a significant problem for small businesses, who are least able to cover financial shortfalls and find temporary finance more difficult and more expensive to obtain.
We have made it a legal requirement for the UK’s largest businesses to publish information on their payment practises, including the average amount of time taken to pay their suppliers.
Additionally, we will be consulting on strengthening the powers of the Small Business Commissioner to support small businesses that are exploited by their larger partners.
Since launching in December 2017, the Small Business Commissioner has recovered £7.4 million owed to small businesses, as well as naming eight large businesses who had paid their small business suppliers late following the Commissioner’s investigation of a complaint.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the number of (a) small and (b) medium businesses that have received late payment of invoices in the last five years in (i) Lincolnshire and (ii) the UK.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government’s manifesto commits to making sure that businesses are paid on time.
At the end of Q3 2019/20 (the most recent complete set of data):
o 7 of the 16 largest departments were meeting the target of 90% payment within 5 days.
o 13 of the 16 departments were paying at least 95% of their invoices within the 30 day target, with 5 departments achieving 99% or more.
The Government is also taking action to simplify the application process for small businesses wanting to supply to the Government and to increase visibility of subcontracting opportunities. Our ambition is that all departments pay 90% of valid and undisputed invoices from SMEs within 5 days and 100% of valid and undisputed invoices within 30 days.
The Government acknowledges that late payment remains a significant problem for small businesses, who are least able to cover financial shortfalls and find temporary finance more difficult and more expensive to obtain.
We have made it a legal requirement for the UK’s largest businesses to publish information on their payment practises, including the average amount of time taken to pay their suppliers.
Additionally, we will be consulting on strengthening the powers of the Small Business Commissioner to support small businesses that are exploited by their larger partners.
Since launching in December 2017, the Small Business Commissioner has recovered £7.4 million owed to small businesses, as well as naming eight large businesses who had paid their small business suppliers late following the Commissioner’s investigation of a complaint.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to help prevent multinational corporations creating private monopolies during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is responsible for investigating competition issues in the UK. The Government has ensured that the CMA has significant powers to investigate and act if it finds that companies are behaving anti-competitively in a market.
The CMA has created a dedicated taskforce to monitor and respond to competition and consumer problems arising from the pandemic. It has also published guidance on its approach to essential business cooperation and merger assessments during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In addition, the Government laid secondary legislation on 22 June to amend the Enterprise Act 2002 to strengthen the Government’s powers to intervene in certain mergers and takeovers. The Government can now intervene on public interest grounds in order to maintain UK capability to combat or mitigate the effects of public health emergencies. Further, subject to Parliament’s approval of a draft statutory instrument, the Government will be shortly be able to intervene in smaller mergers in three of the most national security sensitive sectors: artificial intelligence, cryptographic authentication and advanced materials.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to support (a) vaccine manufacturing and (b) UK life sciences.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The UK is home to one of the strongest, most productive health and life sciences industries globally, and the support of the sector is critical to our response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Government is working closely with the sector, including on the UK’s capacity to manufacture new vaccines at scale, where efforts are being overseen by the newly established Vaccines Taskforce. My Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer has announced a host of measures to help businesses, including in the life sciences sector, to manage increased costs and disrupted cashflow as a result of the outbreak, with £330bn worth of government backed and guaranteed loans.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to support SMEs to design new ways of working in response to the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Paul Scully
Government is already supporting Be the Business, the business-led independent charity which launched in 2017: its key intention is to help every UK SME to improve their productivity and is backed by some of Britain’s most high-profile businesses.In response to the COVID19 outbreak, Be the Business have augmented their original offer of support by publishing a range of online advice and guidance to help SMEs adapt their business practices. This includes case studies, ‘how to guides’, podcasts and video interviews sharing the experiences of business owners and entrepreneurs who have already made changes to adapt their business to survive in the new business environment. Be the Business are also adapting their existing support programmes to help SMEs prepare for recovery and build resilience, including via one-to-one virtual surgeries, peer-to-peer learning networks and a 12-week rapid response mentoring programme.
The £9 million Business Basics Programme, launched in June 2018, is already testing innovative ways of encouraging SMEs to take-up proven technology (such as accountancy or customer relationship management software) and business practices that can boost productivity.
Our regular contact with major UK Business Representative Organisations (BROs) – including with the Federation for Small Businesses, the British Chambers of Commerce and MAKE UK, the Manufacturers Organisation and UK Finance – has been increased considerably, to understand where support is needed most for SMEs. My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I have held weekly calls with the BROs to gain feedback on government support measures; and we have initiated additional calls to announce additions and developments to the suite of COVID19 business finance, such as the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan scheme.
Government departments are also hosting a series of free webinars - via Teams, Twitter and Facebook - week commencing 4 May to help businesses understand the support available during the COVID outbreak.
This is in addition to the business support already launched in March to help businesses in COVID19: this includes
? A Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme where small and large employers will be eligible to apply for a government grant of 80% of workers’ salaries up to £2,500 a month. The scheme will be backdated to March 1 and available for at least three months, with first grants to be paid within weeks.
? Deferral of the next quarter of VAT payments for firms, until the end of June - representing a £30bn injection into the economy.
? £330bn worth of government backed and guaranteed loans to support businesses.
? A Bounce Back Loans scheme, which will provide loans of up to £50,000 to benefit small businesses with a 100% government-backed guarantee for lenders. These loans will be interest free for the first 12 months and businesses can apply online through a short and simple form.
? A Self-Employed Income Support Scheme will help eligible freelance workers receive up to £2,500 per month in grants for at least three months.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that insolvency measures do not inhibit otherwise viable businesses from trading during the covid-19 pandemic.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government announced on 28th March, plans to amend insolvency law to give companies a breathing space to help keep trading whilst exploring options for rescue as a going concern. In addition, the Government announced a temporary suspension of wrongful trading provisions to support company directors to continue trading through the Covid-19 pandemic without the threat of personal liability. The Government has also announced a temporary suspension of the use of statutory demands made between 1 March 2020 and 30 June 2020 and a restriction on winding up petitions presented from 27 April to 30 June, where a company cannot pay its bills due to the coronavirus emergency. This is to further support companies experiencing trading difficulties at this time and to help ensure that viable businesses are able to continue as a going concern.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to help the UK space industry use its skills to support the UK response to the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The UK Space Agency, working with NHS England and the European Space Agency, has made £2.6 million available through a new, fast, contracting process enabling robust scrutiny, but swift development for ‘close to market’ ideas to manage pandemics.
The UK Space Agency feeds information and data about the current state of the space sector into the wider Cabinet Office contingency planning strategy. In order to facilitate this, the UK Space Agency distributes regular surveys to space operators to understand their resilience.
The UK Space Agency is also working with UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to accelerate drone applications within healthcare to support logistics, such as the safe delivery of personal protective equipment and test samples between sites.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to support the manufacturing sector during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Manufacturing is a critical part of our economy. The Department is committed to ongoing engagement with industry to ensure that our manufacturers and their workforce have the support they need, including guidance on how to maintain production safely, where possible. Many companies across the aerospace, chemical, automotive, steel, aluminium, pharmaceutical, and packaging sectors, including those providing essential services and materials, have answered the Government’s call to action. Industry is playing a direct role in our national effort by producing the material we need to fight the spread of the virus.
We have put in place an unprecedented package of Government support to help businesses, which includes providing manufacturers with the support they need to help them get back up and running. Measures include:
The Department has also issued sector-specific advice for manufacturers regarding social distancing in the workplace, which is helping employees to continue working safely during the crisis. This advice is available at:
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that people’s energy needs are met during the covid-19 pandemic.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
The Government has introduced a range of measures to address the Covid-19 outbreak, recognising the pressures facing many UK households.
In addition, and specifically for energy, on 19 March the Government secrured an industry-wide voluntary agreement with all domestic energy suppliers to a set of principles for assisting consumers, including those with pre-payment meters, through the difficulties caused by Covid-19.
This agreement requires all energy suppliers to identify and prioritise consumers at risk, support consumers who are impacted financially as a direct or indirect result of Covid-19, support pre-payment meter customers directly or indirectly impacted by Covid-19 to stay on supply, and to provide information to their consumers.
Details can be found at:
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to support SMEs during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government has announced a package of support for businesses to help with their ongoing business costs in recognition of the disruption caused by Covid-19. In particular, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has been working across Government to provide £13 billion of grant funding to help small and rural businesses and businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors manage their cashflow through this period.
This support will take the form of two grant funding schemes, the Small Business Grant Fund (SBGF) and the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund (RHLGF).
Small Business Grant Fund (SBGF):
All businesses in England in receipt of Small Business Rates Relief (SBRR) and Rural Rates Relief (RRR) in the business rates system will be eligible for a payment of £10,000.
Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund (RHLGF):
Businesses in England that would have been in receipt of the Expanded Retail Discount (which covers retail, hospitality and leisure) on 11 March with a rateable value of less than £51,000 will be eligible for the following cash grants per property: