Credit Unions (Hansard, 8 September 2003)

§ Mr. Love
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussion is taking place with the credit union trade associations on the process of establishing a simple representative body for credit unions in Britain; and if he will make a statement. [127808]

§ Mr. Boateng
No such discussion is taking place. Credit unions are free to affiliate to any, or none, of the main trade associations, and to change their affiliation from time to time.
98W

§ Mr. Love
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many members of credit unions and assets of credit unions there were, broken down by(a) affiliation to each credit union trade association and (b) no affiliation to a credit union trade association for the year ended 30 September 2002. [127809]

§ Mr. Boateng
The latest available statistics on the credit union sector in Great Britain, for the end of 2001, have been published by the Financial Services Authority on its website, to which I refer the hon. Member. At the end of 2001, there were 365,934 members of credit unions in Great Britain, and their total assets were £263.4 million. Statistics for end of 2002 are not yet available, as not all the underlying returns have been received by the Financial Services Authority.
The Financial Services Authority does not at present aggregate credit union returns information according to the separate affiliation of individual credit unions, so the breakdown of information requested is not available.

§ Mr. Love
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to amend industrial and provident society legislation to bring it into line with company law; and if he will make a statement. [127818]

§ Mr. Boateng
The Government is keen to see, where appropriate, a level playing field between industrial and provident societies and companies. The Industrial and Provident Society Act 2002 enables the Treasury to update industrial and provident society law, via secondary legislation, in line with changes in company legislation. The "Modernising Company Law White Paper", published in July 2002, announced a wide-ranging review of company law. In order to provide for a strategic, consistent and up-to-date approach, the Government believe that the general modernisation of industrial and provident society legislation in this area should be considered in the light of that review.