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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 10 October 2018 to Question 174703 on Small Businesses: Billing, what encouragement the Chartered Institute for Credit Management has given to organisations on signing up to the prompt payment code.

The Chartered Institute of Credit Management (CICM) administer the Prompt Payment Code on behalf of the Department. The Code is a voluntary set of best-practice principles, which organisations can choose to sign up to. CICM promote the Code through a variety of industry led events and through their dedicated website found at http://www.promptpaymentcode.org.uk/.

The Prompt Payment Code plays an important role in setting best practice principles in payment terms and practices. The government has recently announced new measures that will help strengthen the Code in enforcing these principles, including appointing the Small Business Commissioner to the Code’s Compliance Board to embed greater independence from industry and support his role in tackling late payment.

Furthermore, my Department has now launched a call for evidence seeking views on how we can build on the government’s existing late payment policies, including the Prompt Payment Code, to drive an end to late payments. The Call for Evidence will look at whether there is merit in introducing additional measures, including whether the Small Business Commissioner should have a greater role in the Code’s administration.