A

BILL

TO

Repeal the Cooperatives (Repeal) Act 2019

BE IT ENACTED by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:-

Section 1: Repeal

(1) The Cooperatives (Repeal) Act 2019 is repealed in its entirety.

Section 2: Reinstatement

(1) Section 1, 2 and 3 of the the Cooperatives Act 2017 are reinstated in full

Section 3: Extent, commencement and short title

(1) This Act shall come into effect one month after it receives the Royal Assent.

(2) This Act may be cited as the Cooperatives (Reinstatement) Act 2021.

This bill was submitted by The Rt Hon Dame ARichTeaBiscuit LT LD DCB OM DBE CMG OBE PC MP on behalf of the 29th Government.

Bill being repealed

Bill being reinstated

A01

Omit Section 1 and 2 and replace with:

Section 1: Definitions

1)A “Cooperative” is a company, or other such organisation, that is jointly owned by constituent membership of the entity, with the aims of promoting its members’ economic; business; social or cultural interests, and may include operations concerning public or community interest.

(a) a cooperative under this Act must ensure that there are procedures so that membership have say over the management and objectives of the entity.

2)A “credit union” is a cooperative specialising in financial services, proving its services to membership and the wider community.

3)Local Authorities within this Act are defined as follows, and are taken to be the authorities areas subsequent to commencement of this Act:

(a) In England, Local Authorities are defined as local government areas in England created by The Local Government Act 1972 and any subsequent act relating to local government prior to the commencement of this Act.

(b) In Scotland, Local Authorities are defined as Local Government Areas named in Schedule 1 of The Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994

(c) In Wales, Local Authorities are defined as Local Government areas named in Schedule 4 of The Local Government Act 1972.

(d) In Northern Ireland, Local Authorities are defined as Local Government areas created under The Local Government (Boundaries) Act (Northern Ireland) 2008

4)An eligible member of the public is any such person whom lives in the local authority where a cooperative is based.

Section 2: Establishment of Credit Unions

1)A credit union is to be established in each local authority across the United Kingdom.

2)Each credit union under this Act shall be registered under the Credit Union Act 1979 and The Legislative Reform (Industrial and Provident Societies and Credit Unions) Order 2011

3)Each Local Authority has the duty to nominate one elected representative of that authority to sit on the board of directors of the credit union.

4)The elected representative shall cease to sit on the board of directors should they no longer hold office.

5)The Secretary of State, may by regulation, impose term limits and other procedures related to the nominated elected official in paragraph 3.

6)For a three month period following the commencement of this Act, an eligible member of the public may join the credit union by paying an annual fee.

(a) the maximum annual fee under this paragraph shall be £10

(b) Nothing in this section shall stop a credit union offering a different fee to different groups of people, so long as the maximum set in paragraph (a) is not exceeded.

(c) following this period, the credit union may set its own membership fees per year.

7)Following the 3 month period, each local authority must set an amount of elected representatives to the board of directors

(a) the minimum elected representatives per credit union shall be 10 representatives.

(b) members of the credit union may s petition for an increase or decrease of the amount of board of directors, including number of elective members from the local authority, sitting, or adopt a proposal from the board of directors regarding board size.

(i) no proposal or vote by credit union membership may be held that means that there is no representative from the local authority sitting.

(ii) no proposal or vote by credit union membership should be below the statutory minimum specified in paragraph (a)

(c) the election system used must be single transferable vote.

8)The Statutory minimum for credit unions under paragraph 7 (a) of this section may be amended by regulation by the Secretary of State.

(a) such regulations under this paragraph may also specify, should a credit union, upon the regulations coming into force, has less members on the board of directors than the statutory minimum, by when should that minimum is reached.

9)The framework for how the credit union operates is to be proposed by the board of directors and to be adopted by majority vote by voting membership of the credit union.

10)Any proposal under paragraph 9 of this section is subject to provisions of the Credit Union Act 1979 and The Legislative Reform (Industrial and Provident Societies and Credit Unions) Order 2011.

11)Nothing in this Act may constitute restrictions on further credit unions forming within a local authority.

Section 3: Funding for Credit Unions

1)The Secretary of State may create a scheme of funding for credit unions created under Section 2 of this Act, to give to local authorities for the purposes of establishment and maintenance of operations of the entity specified.

2)The Secretary of State may specify different amounts to allocate to each local authority dependent on size of local authority and reported membership per year.

Section 4: Regulations

1)Regulations under this Act must be laid before the House of Commons, and shall come into force subject to provisions under this section.

2)Regulations under Section 2 (5) shall be subject to annulment by resolution.

3)Regulations under Section 2 (8) shall come into force following by affirmative resolution in the House of Commons.

Section 5: Consequential Repeals

The Cooperative (Repeal) Act 2019 is repealed in its entirety.

And renumber remaining sections accordingly. In the new Section 6:

Insert at the start:

1)This Act shall extend to the entirety of the United Kingdom.

New Paragraph 3 is amended to read:

3) This Act may be cited as the Cooperatives (Credit Unions) Act 2021.

and rename bill accordingly

Amendment drafted by The Right Honourable Member for Shropshire and Staffordshire. Amendment submitted by The Rt Hon Earl of St Ives.

Explanatory note: This is a technical amendment allowing flexibility in funding for credit unions as opposed to the rigid budget under Section 3 of the attempted reinstatement. It also fixed the definition of local authority since the quoted act is now decanonised and allows for these areas to remain covered by credit unions even after local government reforms, meaning we aren’t in the process of breaking up credit unions during local government reforms. It also provides more flexibility on number of initial board of directors and safeguards the position from the local authority established in the original Act. New definition should allow for a framework to further build the legal footing of cooperatives since atm, it isn’t very well defined in U.K. law, something more unique compared to the rest of Europe.

Vote on the above amendment by 8th December 2021 at 10pm GMT.