The Government knows how important tackling late payment is, especially for smaller businesses. We have recently introduced a number of measures to improve payment practices, specifically for small and medium-sized enterprises.<\/p>
The Reporting on Payment Practices and Performance Regulations 2017 came in to force this year. This statutory requirement increases transparency, providing small and medium-sized businesses with better information about the payment practices of large businesses they intend to trade with.<\/p>
The recently announced Small Business Commissioner builds on a package of measures to tackle late payment and unfavourable payment practices in the private sector. The Commissioner will empower small businesses to resolve payment disputes with larger businesses and avoid future issues by encouraging a culture change in payment practices and how businesses deal with each other.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4115", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Margot James"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Stourbridge"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Margot James"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2017-10-20", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2017-10-20T13:56:43.303Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "201"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2017-10-17", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Small Businesses: Billing"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps the Government is taking to tackle incidents of late payments to small and medium-sized enterprises by larger businesses.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4679", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Neil O'Brien"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Harborough"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Neil O'Brien"} ], "uin" : "108181"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/758908", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/758908/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
The Government is committed to supporting working parents of premature babies and giving their employers the tools that they need to deal with requests for additional time off work and flexible working arrangements.<\/p>
The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) published comprehensive guidance for employers on 5 September 2017 to help employers support staff with premature or sick babies. The guidance covers topics from offering financial support to parents paying extra childcare costs to the statutory pay and leave to which employees may be entitled.<\/p>
We believe that this will help working families to understand the options available to them, as well as enabling employers to provide the best possible support to their staff at this difficult and stressful time. We will keep this under review.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4115", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Margot James"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Stourbridge"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Margot James"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2017-09-12", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2017-09-12T14:38:53.833Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "201"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2017-09-07", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Employment: Childbirth"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the timetable is for publication of ACAS guidelines for employers whose employees have a baby born premature or sick; and what plans his Department has to ensure that those guidelines are (a) implemented and (b) evaluated.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4679", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Neil O'Brien"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Harborough"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Neil O'Brien"} ], "uin" : "9332"} ], "itemsPerPage" : 10, "page" : 0, "startIndex" : 1, "totalResults" : 2, "type" : ["http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#ListEndpoint", "http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#Page"]} }