§ Mr. Harry GreenwayTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what plans he has to implement the proposal to require large companies to publish details of their payment practices, contained in the consultative document, "Tackling Late Payment: Stating Payment Practice in the Directors" report. [13142]
§ Mr. PageLate payment was one of the main concerns highlighted by small firms and their advisers during the nation-wide series of "Your Business Matters" conferences which culminated in the national conference last March. Whilst there are no easy answers to the problems caused by late payment of commercial debt, we in Government are committed to doing all we can to help small firms get their bills paid promptly.
The draft regulations, amending the Companies Act 1985, which I am today laying before Parliament, will mean that all public limited companies and their large private subsidiaries will have to disclose how long, on average, it takes them to pay their bills. This additional information, which builds on the payment policy disclosure introduced last year, will give small firms more details of the payment records of the larger companies with whom they may be considering doing business. This annual disclosure of a performance figure should help small firms monitor year-on-year, in a relatively straightforward way, the payment records of large companies. Whilst it will never substitute for thorough credit management, the additional information provided will be useful to suppliers.