Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans his Department has to support the growth of the co-operative and social enterprise sector.

The Government is strongly supportive of both the co-operative and social enterprise sectors. The Government supports social enterprises in various ways, including championing procurement for social value. At Spring Budget 2017, the Government also announced that the thresholds at which co-operatives will have to conduct a full audit will increase in line with those for companies. This will allow co-operatives to use more of their resources to benefit their members. The Government will continue to explore further ways to support the sector.

Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery. Details of ministerial and permanent secretary meetings with external organisations on departmental business are published on a quarterly basis and are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-ministers-meetings-hospitality-gifts-and-overseas-travel.