The Government is embroiled in an argument over definitions with The Social Enterprise Coalition. The disagreement came when Health Secretary Andrew Lansley outlined the Department of Health’s new vision of the ‘largest social enterprise sector in the world’(published in the Department of Health’s Monday White Paper) and stated this social enterprise sector may be too all encompassing to fit with the definition of ‘social enterprise’ used by the Coalition. In particular Lansley stated that foundation trusts, which are not currently included in the Social Enterprise definition, would have ‘characteristics of social enterprise’. However The Social Enterprise Coalition has retaliated by stating that as foundation trusts are not fully autonomous bodies they cannot be called social enterprises. The Coalition is concerned about companies calling themselves social enterprises when they are not because they feel it will distort understanding and consensus on what is means to be a social enterprise.
To read more, check out the article on the Social Enterprise Live website.
