Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 5 December 2018 to Question 197338 on Pubic Sector: Billing, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of using a business' ability to meet the core standard of paying 95 per cent of invoices within 60 days over the previous two six month periods to determine whether those businesses will be able to pay their sub-contractors within 30 days as required by the Public Contract Regulations 2015.

Following a public consultation in 2018, the standard of paying 95% of invoices within 60 days across both a supplier’s private and public sector business was deemed a suitable indicator of overall performance. There are a series of questions a supplier is expected to respond to about their payment practices and performance if they bid for a major Government contract from 1 September onwards.