HC Deb 01 December 1992 vol 215 cc113-4W
Lady Olga Maitland

To 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. Leigh

Though 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

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.