§ Mr. RedmondTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to penalise public limited companies which fail to pay their bills promptly.
§ Mr. AitkenIt is for individual suppliers rather than Government to seek redress from business customers who fail to honour agreed credit terms. There are therefore no plans to introduce any system of penalties. The Government announced a package of measures, in the White Paper on competitiveness in May 1994, to address late payment. One of the measures is the implementation of proposals to require public companies to state their payment policies in the directors' reports.