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Address in Reply to Her Majesty's Most Gracious Speech

My Lords, I start by welcoming my noble friend to his place as Minister on the Front Bench, and I trust that he will prosper there. A package of measures in the gracious Speech addresses the issue of building on the economic stability of the UK and creating more space and less regulation for innovators and entrepreneurs to thrive. Having spent the past four years running my own small business, I can testify to how welcome are the proposals in the Government's programme to simplify company law and exempt small and medium-sized firms from unnecessary law requirements. I also warmly welcome the introduction of measures to address equalities and the home life balance. I look forward to working with my noble friend on those matters. I intend to speak about the commitments the Government and, indeed, the other parties made during the course of the election in their manifestos and their programmes for business about the need to develop a more diverse business base in the UK by supporting the third sector and social enterprise. Before I do so, I should like to ask the Minister for specific assurances about the impact of the newly proposed companies Bill on the about-to-be-launched community interest company, which many noble Lords will recall we put through the House during the last Session, and the implications for industrial and provident societies and public interest companies. Some time has been spent in the past five years reforming the Victorian legislation that governs I&P societies, and we welcome the effort to mitigate some of the disadvantages that existed between them and companies in terms of cost, ease of formation, and lightness or complexity of regulation. I hope that the new proposals will enhance the choice of company form and not take us back to the uneven playing field that existed previously. I do not expect my noble friend to give me a detailed chapter and verse response at this stage, but I seek an undertaking that those who need to be consulted—the I&P societies, the co-operatives and social enterprises which may be affected—will be involved in discussions at an early stage because, apart from anything else, I would like to be here in a few months' time congratulating and supporting the Government during the course of the Bill, not declaring my intention to place amendments to it to remedy something that can be solved now. I need to declare an interest as someone who works as an adviser to the Co-operative Group and as the voluntary and unpaid chairman of the Social Enterprise Coalition, which acts as a voice for social enterprises in the UK. Many noble Lords will have received from the Social Enterprise Coalition in the period leading up to the election the manifesto for social enterprise called There's More to Business . . . , a copy of which I would be happy to make available to my noble friend in case he has misplaced his. Of course its recommendations are positive and realistic, the most important of which is recognising that social enterprise as a distinct way of doing business seeks to meet social and environmental needs rather than to maximise shareholder value. Examples of what are called for in the manifesto are: promoting a bigger and more strategic role for social enterprises in delivering public services; exploring social enterprise models particularly in the delivery of childcare, health services and social care; recognising and supporting the work of non-charitable social enterprises in delivering substantial public benefit; and supporting innovative approaches to securing wider social and environmental benefits through the procurement process and ensuring that they are reflected in procurement strategies and contract conditions. I am pleased to say that the manifesto received cross-party support. During the course of the election, all the three major parties gave support by visits to local social enterprises and including proposals about social enterprises in their policy programmes. The then co-chairman of the Conservative Party, Mr Liam Fox, said during a visit to a social enterprise in his constituency: "Social enterprise is an important model to add into the mix of businesses . . . it can not only fill a gap in the market, it can help to create a market that wasn't there before and clearly it's a model we want to encourage". The Conservative Party also pledged to recognise the value of social enterprise. The Liberal Democrat leading spokesperson, Simon Hughes, commented when visiting a social enterprise in his constituency that: "Social enterprises are shown to work and Liberal Democrats have in many places up and down Britain used them and worked with them and encouraged them from the vantage of being in charge of local authorities. That needs to be supported and replicated nationally and we have long taken the view that Government's job is to support, to encourage and to underpin social enterprise". While welcoming such support, it is in many ways what the Government said that we need to know most of all. Setting out the Government's policies to support business and enterprise, should they form the next government, the manifesto stated: "Enterprise is being strengthened in every sector and in every region, including new measures to promote the growth of social enterprises". Speaking during a visit to a Leicester-based social enterprise, Ground Control, the then Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Patricia Hewitt, who launched the business manifesto, said: "Social enterprises are making a great difference to people all over the country and I'm proud that we have been able to make a difference in Government to the future of social enterprise. What we now have to do is carry that work forward if we were elected for a third term". We regard that as a bit of a hat-trick. In many ways I hope that, as we move forward with this Parliament and the Government unfold their programmes, we see the further growth of the third sector of the economy and within that support for the continued flourishing of social enterprise. The sector feels that commitments made in the recent general election give both a political commitment at the highest level in all the parties and provide a platform to hold the Government to account for the progress they need to make—and I say that in the nicest possible way. There is widespread agreement now about the value of social enterprise and its role in the growth of productivity and the diversity of service delivery. I look forward to working with my friends in government and in other parties to ensure that these aspirations become a reality.