Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many commercial suppliers (1) claimed, and (2) received, statutory interest from public sector bodies due to late payment of commercial debts in each year since 2010.

This information is not held centrally.

Under the Public Contracts Regulations, it is the responsibility of public sector buyers to publish annually the amount of interest paid to suppliers due to late payment. Additionally, central government departments publish interest liable, under the late payment legislation, on a quarterly basis. From March 2017, it has been a requirement for public sector buyers to publish the total amount of interest that they were liable to pay.

The Public Contracts Regulations require public bodies to publish on the internet each year statistics showing how they have complied with the obligation to pay undisputed invoices within 30 days to their first tier suppliers/prime contractors.

We encourage businesses to report instances where this is not happening to the Mystery Shopper service. Mystery Shopper will then investigate.