Business Impact Target
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The Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015, also referred to as SBEE, received
Royal Assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in othe ...
in March 2015. Its contents include
regulatory reform Regulatory reform concerns improvements to the quality of government regulation. At the international level, the "OECD Regulatory Reform Programme is aimed at helping governments improve regulatory quality - that is, reforming regulations that rais ...
(part 2), public sector procurement (part 3) and
company director A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulations ...
disqualification issues (part 9).


Provisions


Business impact target

Part 2 contained provision for the government to publish a "business impact target", which is Statutory guidance on this duty was published in January 2019. The relevant legislative provisions, namely section 21 to 27 of the 2015 Act were repealed and the business impact target itself was abolished by the
Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023 The Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023 (c. 28) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom to revoke certain legislation implementing European Union law in the UK (retained EU law), following the UK's exit from the European ...
.


Public sector procurement

Part 3 concerns powers to make further regulations regarding public sector procurement, including processes for entering into contracts and contract management (section 39) and investigations into procurement functions (section 40). One of the particular objectives underlying potential regulations would be to ensure that procurement functions are exercised in an efficient and timely manner. These sections were repealed by the
Procurement Act 2023 The Procurement Act 2023 (c. 54) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The act seeks to overhaul public procurement law in the United Kingdom by simplifying processes and giving a greater share of public sector supply opportunitie ...
, although investigatory powers remain in place under Part 10 of the new procurement legislation. Examples of public sector purchasing practices identified in a
Cabinet Office The Cabinet Office is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for supporting the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, prime minister and Cabinet ...
consultation regarding the proposed legislation in 2014, before it was enacted, included over-complicating requirements and 'gold-plating'
specification A specification often refers to a set of documented requirements to be satisfied by a material, design, product, or service. A specification is often a type of technical standard. There are different types of technical or engineering specificati ...
s, being over-prescriptive for lower value procurements, complex tender documentation, and making inappropriate use of
framework agreement In the context of negotiations, a framework agreement is an agreement between two parties that recognizes that the parties have not come to a final agreement on all matters relevant to the relationship between them, but have come to agreement on en ...
s when they can be a barrier for
small business Small businesses are types of corporations, partnerships, or sole proprietorships which have a small number of employees and/or less annual revenue than a regular-sized business or corporation. Businesses are defined as "small" in terms of being ...
es, and internal decision making procedures.


Company directors

On 1 October 2015, Part 9 of the Act came into force, which amended the
Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 The Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 (c. 46) forms part of UK company law and sets out the procedures for company directors to be disqualified in certain cases of misconduct. History Lord Millett, in the opinion he gave in , summari ...
to introduce: :* inclusion of relevant foreign offences as grounds for disqualification (s. 104) :* extension of the régime to persons instructing unfit directors of
insolvent In accounting, insolvency is the state of being unable to pay the debts, by a person or company ( debtor), at maturity; those in a state of insolvency are said to be ''insolvent''. There are two forms: cash-flow insolvency and balance-sheet in ...
companies (s. 105) :* revision of the procedure for determining the unfitness of directors and shadow directors (s. 106) :* requirements for official receivers, liquidators, administrators and administrative receivers to report to the Secretary of State on the conduct of each person who was a director of a company on the insolvency date or within the three years before (s. 107) :* provision for compensation orders and undertakings on persons who are subject to disqualification orders or undertakings, where the person's conduct as a director caused loss to one or more creditors during the time he was a director of an insolvent company (s. 110)


Reporting on Payment Practices and Performance Regulations 2017

The Reporting on Payment Practices and Performance Regulations 2017, issued under the Act, came into force on 6 April 2017. Under the rules introduced in April 2017, all large UK companies are required to publish specific information regarding their payment policies, practices and performance, including the average time taken to pay supplier
invoice An invoice, bill, tab, or bill of costs is a commercial document that includes an itemized list of goods or services furnished by a seller to a buyer relating to a sale transaction, that usually specifies the price and terms of sale, quanti ...
s, twice yearly. This information is made public in a report. The regulations lapsed on 6 April 2024.


See also

* Tied Pubs (Scotland) Act 2021


References

United Kingdom company law Corporate directors {{UK-law-stub