Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of Government-funded business development support in the co-operative and mutual sectors.

The Department for Business and Trade committed to launch a Call for Evidence on co-operative and mutual business. The Call for Evidence will focus on how the government can continue to support co-operative and mutual businesses, to start, grow and scale, as well as support for existing businesses who want to transition to become a co-operative or mutual.

As part of this, we will be collecting data on existing business support for co-operatives and mutuals, including, but not limited to government funded support.