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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what proportion of payments by his Department to small businesses are made on time and in accordance with the prompt payment code.

The Department does not differentiate between small, medium or larger businesses as many smaller businesses can be found throughout the supply chain. The performance for ex-DECC and ex-BIS in the 15/16 financial year resulted in 98.8% and 96.7% of supplier invoices being paid within 5 working days.