§ 93. Mr. MichaelTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment whether he will make it his policy to provide adequate resources to enable the Co-operative Development Agency to consolidate and develop its work in promoting co-operative enterprises in the United Kingdom; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. CopeThe Co-operative Development Agency is at present largely supported by my Department under the terms of the 1984 Co-operative Development Agency and Industrial Development Act. Under this Act Government funding was increased up to an overall limit of £3 million. At current rates of spending this limit will be reached in the financial year 1990–91. In January this year my Department wrote to organisations representing the interests of the co-operative movement and consulting them on a proposal that the agency's life should not be extended. The views received are now being carefully considered and I hope to announce our conclusions and intentions in the near future.