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The Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015, also referred to as SBEE,^[1] received Royal Assent in March 2015.^[2] Its contents include regulatory reform (part 2), public sector procurement (part 3) and company director disqualification issues (part 9).

Business impact target

Part 2 contained provision for the government to publish a "business impact target", which is

a target for the Government in respect of the economic impact on business activities of qualifying regulatory provisions.^[3]

Statutory guidance on this duty was published in January 2019.^[4]

The relevant legislative provisions, namely section 21 to 27 of the 2015 Act were repealed and the business impact target itself was abolished by the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023.^[5]

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would be to ensure that procurement functions are exercised in an efficient and timely manner.^[6] These sections were repealed by the Procurement Act 2023, although investigatory powers remain in place under Part 10 of the new procurement legislation.^[7]

Examples of public sector purchasing practices identified in a Cabinet Office consultation regarding the proposed legislation in 2014, before it was enacted, included over-complicating requirements and 'gold-plating' specifications, being over-prescriptive for lower value procurements, complex tender documentation, and making inappropriate use of framework agreements when they can be a barrier for small businesses, and internal decision making procedures.^[8]

Company directors

On 1 October 2015, Part 9 of the Act came into force,^[9] which amended the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 to introduce:

• inclusion of relevant foreign offences as grounds for disqualification (s. 104)
• extension of the régime to persons instructing unfit directors of insolvent 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.^[10] 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 invoices, twice yearly. This information is made public in a report.^[11] The regulations lapsed on 6 April 2024.^{[10]: Regulation 1(3)}

References