§ The Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Mr. Paul Boateng)The Strategy Unit report "Private Action, Public Benefit", published in September 2002, highlights some of the key challenges facing the voluntary and not-for-profit sector, and contains a number of recommendations for reform of this sector. Earlier this year the Department of Trade and Industry issued a consultation document on community interest companies, an alternative corporate form in this sector, in response to one of the recommendations in the report. The Government will issue an overall response to the report shortly. The Government now respond to the report's recommendations on industrial and provident societies.
The Government recognise the importance of industrial and provident societies and welcome their tradition of member engagement, contribution to the economy and service to the community. We are working hard to help support this sector to enable it to maximise the benefits it provides to members, the economy and society as a whole.
The Government have closely analysed each of the recommendations in the report and reviewed the responses to the subsequent public consultation on these recommendations. The response to the report will form a significant contribution to the Government's agenda for reform in the industrial and provident society sector. The Government are supportive of the report's recommendations on the industrial and provident society sector. We have accepted in full or in part, six of the seven recommendations in the report. Several of these have already been implemented—either because they represent a continuation of existing policy, or they were taken forward by the 2002 Industrial and Provident Societies Act.
My hon. Friend the Member for South Derbyshire (Mr. Todd) recently enacted Private Member's Bill gives the Treasury power to bring forward an asset lock-in regime for community benefit societies. Such a regime was a recommendation of this report, and the Treasury is committed to taking it forward. The Government 23WS accept in principle a number of the recommendations, but will undertake further work before deciding how to bring them into effect. These include the recommendations on changing the name of industrial and provident societies to co-operatives and community benefit societies, easing member share capital limits and updating industrial and provident society legislation in line with company law.
We do not accept one of the report's recommendations, on giving co-operatives a statutory definition in line with International Co-operative Alliance Principles. This is because giving co-operatives such a definition would risk restricting the development of this form of industrial and provident society in future.
A detailed analysis to each of the report's recommendations on industrial and provident societies, together with a copy of this statement, is being deposited in the Library of the House and is accessible on the Treasury website http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/