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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-04-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many companies have disclosed information to Companies House on persons with significant control in their company as part of their company register since that requirement came into force on 6 April 2016.

Anna Soubry

The requirement for companies to have a register of people with significant control was commenced on 6 April. However, the requirement to disclose this information to the Registrar does not commence until 30 June 2016. In most cases companies will deliver this annually with their Confirmation Statement, which replaces the Annual Return.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-04-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many cases of alleged malpractice by directors of companies the Insolvency Service investigated in each year since 2009; and in each of those years how many directors of such companies were disqualified from practising on account of offences committed (a) in the UK and (b) abroad.

Anna Soubry

When a company enters into formal insolvency proceedings, the insolvency practitioner (IP) has to file a report on the conduct of the directors unless an official receiver is in office; and each of those reports is assessed by the Insolvency Service to determine if a more detailed investigation is appropriate. When a company enters into compulsory liquidation, although this is not itself an indication of misconduct, the official receiver will in all cases make enquiries to determine the cause of insolvency and the conduct of the directors of the company.

The number of reports of misconduct submitted by IPs is detailed in the table below, alongside the total number of compulsory liquidations each year.

Reporting year	IP reports of misconduct	Compulsory liquidations	Total disqualifications
09/10	7,030	5,418	1,386
10/11	5,373	4,573	1,453
11/12	5,401	5,125	1,165
12/13	5,335	4,001	1,034
13/14	4,671	3,734	1,282
14/15	4,620	3,588	1,210
15/16	4,277	2,778	*810

*Disqualifications in the period from April 2015 to December 2015, the latest period for which official statistics are available.

All of these cases relate to companies based in and trading in the UK. In many cases, a disqualification will be obtained in a period subsequent to the submission of a report or the insolvency of the company. Each case may encompass a number of directors.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-04-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, (a) how many and (b) what proportion of companies newly registered with Companies House have been (i) directly incorporated and (ii) set up by third parties such as trust or company service providers in each year since 2004; and in each of those years how many complaints Companies House received about the conduct of companies in each group.

Anna Soubry

Companies House does not hold the information requested. Newly incorporated companies are not categorised on the basis of whether they were formed directly or by a third party such as a Trust or Company Service Provider.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-04-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, when he plans to announce the results of the consultation, Property ownership and public contracting by foreign countries: improving transparency, published on 4 March 2016.

Anna Soubry

The Government is currently analysing the responses to the discussion paper, with a view to announcing its next steps shortly.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-04-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many referrals the Insolvency Service received from (a) each of the sectoral regulators and (b) any other third party for alleged malpractice by directors of companies in each year since 2009.

Anna Soubry

The number of complaints received about live companies, and the number of reports received about insolvent companies from insolvency practitioners (IPs), is summarised in the table below. No records are kept of the total number of complaints received about insolvent companies and separate figures are not available for complaints received from regulators.

Reporting year	No complaints received about live companies	No of reports received from IPs
09/10	5,989	7,030
10/11	4,852	5,373
11/12	3,523	5,401
12/13	3,014	5,335
13/14	3,603	4,671
14/15	3,791	4,620
15/16	3,904	4,277

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-04-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the ban on bearer shares which came into force on 26 May 2015.

Anna Soubry

The government introduced a ban on the issue of new bearer shares on 26 May 2015 through the Small Business Enterprise and Employment Act 2015. The legislation provided a transition period to allow existing bearer shareholders to convert their shares into other types of shareholding or to realise their value. The transition period ended on 25 February 2016. Companies notify Companies House of the removal of bearer shares when they file their annual return (which will change to the confirmation statement from 30 June 2016).

Since 26 May 2015 Companies House has worked closely with the approximately 1,300 companies that had bearer shares as well as their directors and professional representatives. Over 1,233 of those companies have confirmed to Companies House that they have no longer have bearer shares.

Companies House is monitoring each filing of these companies’ annual return to confirm that the bearer shares have been converted. This exercise will end in February 2017 once the annual filing cycle concludes following the end of the transition period.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-04-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to paragraph 15 of Beneficial Ownership Transparency: enhancing transparency of beneficial ownership information of foreign companies undertaking certain economic activities in the UK, published by his Department in March 2016, how much property has been investigated as suspected proceeds of corruption in each year since 2004-05; and what proportion of those properties in each of those years used offshore corporate ownership.

Anna Soubry

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills does not hold the information requested. Paragraph 15 of the discussion paper refers to information from the 2015 Transparency International Report “Corruption on your Doorstep”. The Metropolitan Police’s Proceeds of Corruption Unit provided the information to inform the report prior to their joining the National Crime Agency to form the International Corruption Unit. I have received the assurance that it is not possible to provide the information broken down by year without redoing the research which would be at disproportionate cost.