Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the proportion of invoices his Department paid to small and medium-sized enterprises within five days in the 2021-2022 financial year.

This information is not held by the Cabinet Office, as we cannot separate out small and medium-sized enterprises. I refer you to the Cabinet Office Prompt Payment statistics, which can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1093446/Cabinet_Office_prompt_payment_data_-_April_2021_to_March_2022__3_.csv/preview

This Conservative Government knows that small and medium sized businesses are the backbone of the British economy and I am proud of the work we are doing to support them. For instance, the Procurement Bill we are introducing will bring four complex regimes into one and enable simpler, more flexible public procurement processes, giving small and medium sized businesses greater opportunities to benefit from Government contracts.