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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has had recent discussions with relevant stakeholders on tackling late invoice payments to small and medium sized enterprises.

The Government recognises the impact late invoice payments have on small and medium businesses and engages with a range of businesses to understand these challenges as well as explore ways to mitigate them.

We are tackling the culture of late payments, which is still affecting too many small businesses, through a range of measures, including the Small Business Commissioner, Payment Practices Reporting and Prompt Payment Code. The Code was last reviewed and changes made in 2021, we will keep these measures under review and bring forward further changes where necessary.