PERFORMANCE OF CO-OPERATIVES

That this House notes with admiration the news that Britain's co-operative sector out-performed the wider UK economy in the past year in a boost for businesses owned by their employees or customers; welcomes the statement from Co-operatives UK which says that the combined turnover of mutual organisationsrose by 4.4 per cent., with the biggest growth recorded at employee-owned firms such as John Lewis, while the customer-owned Co-operative Group was the biggest business with arevenue of 14 billion; and calls on the Government to pursue policies which will encourage the establishment of new co-operative and mutual enterprises.