Businesses: Employee-shareholder Scheme

Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean Excerpts

Thursday 9th January 2014 Lords Chamber

[Viscount Younger of Leckie]

My noble friend makes a very important point. Indeed, it is true that businesses where employees have a stake in the company have been seen to perform better than those where that is not the case. The employee ownership index has outperformed the FTSE all-share by an average of 10% since 1992, so successful employee-owned businesses do see the engagement of the workforce as an integral feature of how the business is run.

[Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean (Lab)]

My Lords, will the Minister confirm that Ministers in this House, when they answer Questions, answer on behalf of the Government, not on behalf of their departments?

[Viscount Younger of Leckie]

That is indeed true; we speak on behalf of the department, but we are also government spokesmen.