§ Mrs. Angela KnightTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what proposals he has to improve procedures to reduce the late payment of debt to small companies.
§ Mr. Ian TaylorIn the White Paper on competitiveness in May this year we announced a number of new measures to address the problem of late payment. The measures include
new prompt payment requirements for Government Departments and their agencies;improvements to court procedures for debt recovery and a review of the small claims limit;the implementation of proposals that public companies should state their payment policies in their directors' reports;the development of proposals for a British standard for prompt payment andwork with trade associations, business links and others to improve credit management in small firms.We have also announced that we will re-examine the case for legislation for a statutory right to interest in two years if there had been no significant improvement.