Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the effect of late payments on small and medium-sized enterprises.

The Government knows how important tackling late payment is, especially for smaller businesses. The 2016 Impact Assessment for the Duty to report on payment practices and performance provides further detail on the assessment of the impact of late payment on small and medium-sized enterprises and can be found here - https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/business-payment-practices-and-policies-duty-to-report.