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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of recent trends in the level of late payments for construction firms on that sector.

The Department does not hold detailed information on late payments in the construction sector. The most comprehensive and up to date analysis of payment practices in the construction sector is the recently published BEIS research paper no.17 – Retentions in the Construction Sector. Further information is being gathered through two ongoing consultations on construction payment practices. The deadline for responses is Friday 19 January 2018. Consultation outcomes will be published within 12 weeks of the close of the consultations or an explanation if this is not possible.