Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-05-04.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what his policy is on making it mandatory for British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies to provide a central, public register of beneficial ownership.

Matthew Hancock

Our priority for the Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies has been for them to establish a central register of beneficial ownership information (or a similarly effective system) where they do not already have one, and for UK law enforcement and tax authorities to have full and automatic access to that information. As has repeatedly been set out the registers will not be public, these measures will place our Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories well ahead of many other similar jurisdictions and represent a significant step forward in our ability to counter criminal activity.