§ Lady Olga MaitlandTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will introduce legislation to require businesses over a certain size to pay their bills promptly.
§ Mr. LeighThough we understand the frustrations felt by small businesses because of delayed payments, we remain unconvinced that legislation would prove effective. The majority of organisations representing small firms share the Government's view that the effect of a legislative approach would be, at best, minimal and could even be
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Scheme Take-up Expenditure 1991–92 1991–92 The Enterprise Initiative Consultancy Scheme 14,387 cases £64.4 million Loan Guarantee Scheme 2,941 loans guaranteed £27.541 million Small Firms Merit Award for Research and Technology (Smart); 180 stage 1 grants £12 million Support of Projects Under Research (SPUR); 148 grants £318,000 Your Business Success; 75,000 kits £1 million Graduate Enterprise; 5,200 students £340,000 The Export Marketing Research Scheme (ERMS); 221 projects £1.1 million Regional Enterprise Grants; 975 grant offers £7.3 million Development Projects individual projects £350,000 late payment development projects with three trade associations £30,000 each informal investment demonstration projects with five TECs £100,000 in 1992–93 damaging to the small firms sector. We remain interested however to receive views on how an effective legislative framework might operate.