Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the Civil Society Strategy, what progress his Department has made on establishing a regular forum for social enterprises to coordinate relations with government; and whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of strengthening the legal framework for co-operatives.

The Civil Society Strategy is long term, setting out our vision for government’s work with and for civil society over the next 10 years and beyond. As we said in the Strategy, we recognise the strong demand from the social enterprise sector for a simpler relationship with Government and the proposal to establish a forum for social enterprises remains an important recommendation. Our resources are currently focused on other priorities from the Civil Society Strategy and on preparing for EU exit. In the meantime we continue to engage closely with representatives from the social enterprise sector on matters of mutual interest, including specific recommendations from the Civil Society Strategy. To inform the scope and remit of the forum for social enterprises, we will convene a meeting chaired by the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise Crown Representative in due course. The legal framework for co-operatives and community benefit societies is one of the issues we expect the group will wish to place on its agenda.