SUPPORTING THE EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP SECTOR

That this House welcomes the UK's first Employee Ownership Day; notes the success of businesses owned by and for their staff; recognises the productivity, profitability and motivational benefits which employee ownership brings to UK businesses; further notes that employee-owned businesses still only account for around 3 per cent of GDP, which is below the EU average, and far lower than countries like the US, France or Germany; welcomes the Government's commitment to provide £50 million annually from 2014-15 and the recent HM Treasury consultation to further incentivise growth of the sector; and hopes that this will level the playing field and help the Employee Ownership Association realise their vision to see 10 per cent of UK GDP produced by employee-owned businesses by 2020.