A Parliamentary Question about the NHS and Small Businesses


During Department of Health questions on 7th February 2017, I raised a question with the Department of Health about NHS providers making slow payments to small businesses. This question arose from casework that I have been working on in Wycombe.

Steve Baker MP: A small business in my constituency was driven out of business by slow payments for relatively small sums by NHS providers. Will he ensure strict compliance with the guidelines for timely payments?

Philip Dunne MP (Minister of State Department of Health): My hon. Friend will be aware that best practice for NHS bodies is to pay within 30 days. I am pleased to be able to tell him that figures for the quarter ending in September show that the Department of Health paid 98.4% of our bills within five days—one of the best performances across government.

While I was pleased with the Minister’s response, I will ask a written question to Ministers on what actions are available for small businesses in the event that an NHS body does not make payment within 30 days.

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Comments & Responses

One Response so far.

  1. Ralph Corderoy says:

    Perhaps the minister can provide a chart for that quarter of invoice amount against delay in paying to see if smaller amounts, typically to smaller companies, suffer more of a delay, and how many exceed the “Best Practice” of thirty days.