I’ve written about employee ownership on these pages before – but today am doing so from a very different position. As the Coalition’s minister for employment relations, employee ownership is part of my remit. I’ve gone from being an enthusiastic advocate of greater employee ownership, to being the Liberal Democrat minister responsible for delivering it.

This is a Liberal ideal. From John Stuart Mill’s nineteenth-century call for partnership between capital and labour, via Elliot Dodds’ ‘Ownership for all’ Committee in the 1930s, to Jo Grimond’s visit to the Mondragon co-operative in Spain (a visit which inspired him to found the predecessor to today’s Employee Ownership Association), Liberals and Liberal Democrats have espoused greater employee ownership. It is an argument based on principle, backed by evidence and now, I believe, it’s time has really come. People have been horrified by the greed and short-term thinking which led to the financial crash of 2008 and are crying out for a more responsible capitalism.

My work in this area took a big step forward this week, with the publication of Graeme Nuttall’s review of employee ownership. Graeme, an expert in the field, is the Government’s independent advisor on employee ownership and has spent the past six months examining the barriers to increasing its presence in the British economy. He identified three main problems:

• a lack of awareness of the concept
• a lack of resources available to support employee ownership
• a complicated – or seemingly complicated – legal, tax and regulatory framework

…and suggested the following ways they could be addressed:

• Raising awareness: through a Government awareness-raising programme, as well as consistent promotion of employee ownership as a business model by the sector itself, and by introducing a ‘Right to Request’ employee ownership
• Increasing the resources available: establish a new Institute to disseminate information and provide guidance, a Government taskforce to look at making employee ownership a more integral part of the advice provided by business intermediaries (legal, tax, accountancy and other advisors), and do further work on whether there is a ‘finance gap’ for employee-owned businesses
• Reducing complexity: establish an ‘off the shelf’ model and toolkit for those interested in establishing an employee owned company

Graeme presented his recommendations at a summit, last week, attended by groups from the sector, as well as law and accountancy firms, professional bodies, business advisors, academics, banks and policymakers who will be needed to make this work. I chaired the session, and Nick Clegg – who kickstarted the Government’s drive on this – was the keynote speaker.

Some of Graeme’s recommendations are being put into action immediately. At last Wednesday’s summit Nick announced that an expert Institute for Employee Ownership will be established as a professional body to provide information and advice. New off-the-shelf ‘DIY packs’ for companies will cover legal, tax and other regulatory considerations and enable companies to adopt employee-owned business models quickly and easily. Finally, the Government has launched a call for evidence on how a ‘Right to Request’ employee ownership could work in practice.

It would be easy to think of this as a one-off event, but that would be a mistake – this is an ongoing process. Graeme Nuttall made one final, crucial recommendation: that the Government should “maintain its focus upon employee ownership, and translate its support into concrete changes”.

I am determined to follow through on this, and to use this opportunity in Government to make major progress. The evidence shows that employee-owned businesses create jobs faster and were more resilient during the recession. They are an important part of a diverse, balanced and sustainable economy in which businesses look to the long-term. Last week’s summit marks a step towards bringing employee ownership into the mainstream of British business.

As a footnote – the party has been working on updating its policy in this area. The last time this was done in any formal, comprehensive manner was back in 1990! The policy working group, of which I am a member, has a broad remit – looking at mutualisation, employee ownership and workplace democracy – and Conference will be voting on the paper in Brighton in September.

As a separate footnote – I have also published the next steps on the mutualisation of the Post Office – an issue too complex to go into in detail here, but one which I will return to!

* Norman Lamb is MP for North Norfolk and was Liberal Democrat Minister of State at the Department of Health until May 2015. He now chairs the Science and Technology Select Committee