§ Mr. David ShawTo ask the Attorney-General if he will make a statement on the achievements of(a) his policies and (b) his Department and the Lord Chancellor's Department in helping small businesses over the last 12 months as against the previous 12 months; and if he will publish the performance indicators by which his Department monitors those achievements and the statistical results of such monitoring.
§ The Attorney-GeneralThe Government continue to place a high priority on helping small businesses through improvements to the business climate, through deregulation and other measures and through specific programmes of support and assistance.
The Departments for which I am responsible are the legal secretariat to the Law Officers, the Treasury Solicitor's department, the Crown prosecution service and the Serious Fraud Office. The services provided by the first two are largely internal to government. The functions of the Crown prosecution service and the Serious Fraud Office relate purely to the criminal justice system. While both organisations are aware of the serious consequences caused by some criminal offences when perpetrated against small businesses, decisions to prosecute are taken in accordance with the evidential sufficiency and public interest criteria laid down in the code for Crown prosecutors. The provisions of the code do not specify classes of victim, and accordingly do not distinguish between small businesses and other victims.
As regards purchasing, all the Departments for which I am responsible have regard to the desirability of encouraging small businesses in line with the policy of the Government as a whole.
The Lord Chancellor's programme of reforms to streamline procedures in the civil courts will benefit all litigants, including small businesses. For example, higher value claims can now be brought in a county court following the removal, on 1 July this year, of the financial limits to the county courts' general jurisdiction. From the same date, the level at which defended claims are automatically referred to the informal small claims arbitration procedure has been lifted from £500 to £1,000. The effect of these changes on the number of cases brought in the county courts will be monitored, but no separate statistics are kept in relation to small businesses.
In its purchasing activities the Lord Chancellor's Department continues to encourage the use of small businesses as suppliers. The Department recognises that the prompt payment of bills is a matter of concern to small businesses and has agreed to participate in an interdepartmental exercise to help monitor payment performance generally. The Department's estimated total expenditure with small businesses in 1990–91 was £16 million, as against £14 million in 1989.