Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to improve access to patient capital for co-operative and mutual enterprises.

The Government is committed to removing barriers to the growth of the co-operative and mutuals sector, and the Department is commissioning further research into financing challenges facing the sector.

The Department will shortly be publishing its response to the call for evidence on business support for co-operatives and non-financial mutuals, which will set out our position to improving access to finance and co-operative business support more generally.