FRIENDLY SOCIETIES

That this House welcomes the progress being made towards a Bill based on the Green Paper, Friendly Societies: A New Framework (Cm. 919) as outlined in the Economic Secretary's written answer of 19th December; further welcomes the positive response of the friendly societies movement to the Economic Secretary's Statement; believes that mutual self-help and thrift, the guiding principles of the friendly societies movement, are as important today as ever; and looks forward to the introduction early in the next session of Parliament of the Bill which will free societies from the current restrictive Victorian framework and set in place a modern, fair and durable regime that will enable them to flourish into the next century.