To match an exact phrase, use quotation marks around the search term. eg. "Parliamentary Estate". Use "OR" or "AND" as link words to form more complex queries.

Keep yourself up-to-date with the latest developments by exploring our subscription options to receive notifications direct to your inbox

Written Question
Foreign Companies: Registration
Wednesday 23rd November 2022

Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberafan Maesteg)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many members of staff at Companies House are currently working exclusively or primarily on processing registration applications for the Register of Overseas Entities.

Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio

There are 8 staff currently working exclusively on registrations. There are an additional 20 staff who are fully trained and offer flexible support according to workload.

Speech in Public Bill Committees - Thu 17 Nov 2022
Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Thirteenth sitting)

"It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Elliott. I want to make a few general points about registers of beneficial ownership and have a number of questions for the Minister, as a preamble to commenting on clause 135 specifically. Registers of beneficial ownership are not, of course, …..."
Stephen Kinnock - View Speech

View all Stephen Kinnock (Lab - Aberafan Maesteg) contributions to the debate on: Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Thirteenth sitting)
Speech in Public Bill Committees - Thu 17 Nov 2022
Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Thirteenth sitting)

"On that point about staffing, I think the Minister’s point is that there will be a last-minute rush. Is he confident that the current staffing levels are sufficient to cope with that last-minute rush—that surge?..."
Stephen Kinnock - View Speech

View all Stephen Kinnock (Lab - Aberafan Maesteg) contributions to the debate on: Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Thirteenth sitting)
Speech in Public Bill Committees - Thu 17 Nov 2022
Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Thirteenth sitting)

"I thank the Minister for that. Does he have any thoughts on the interface between the Land Registry and the register of beneficial owners? It appears that a lot of the information on the Land Registry is seriously outdated. What steps are being taken to address that challenge, and does …..."
Stephen Kinnock - View Speech

View all Stephen Kinnock (Lab - Aberafan Maesteg) contributions to the debate on: Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Thirteenth sitting)
Speech in Public Bill Committees - Thu 17 Nov 2022
Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Fourteenth sitting)

"It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Christopher. Compared with clause 135, clauses 136, 137 and 157 are more substantial. In drafting them, the Government appear to have accepted that the existing law in relation to false statement offences is too narrow to serve either as an …..."
Stephen Kinnock - View Speech

View all Stephen Kinnock (Lab - Aberafan Maesteg) contributions to the debate on: Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Fourteenth sitting)
Speech in Public Bill Committees - Thu 17 Nov 2022
Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Fourteenth sitting)

"I thank the Minister for that clarification. Does he have any broader assurances around enforcement and implementation? It would be useful to get a sense of what institutional or organisational capability he envisages, and of whether that is in line with what the Bill is trying to achieve...."
Stephen Kinnock - View Speech

View all Stephen Kinnock (Lab - Aberafan Maesteg) contributions to the debate on: Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Fourteenth sitting)
Speech in Public Bill Committees - Thu 17 Nov 2022
Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Fourteenth sitting)

"I thank the Minister for those assurances. I have no further comments.

Question put and agreed to.

Clause 136 accordingly ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clause 137 ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clause 138

Meaning of “service address”

Question proposed, That the clause stand part of …..."
Stephen Kinnock - View Speech

View all Stephen Kinnock (Lab - Aberafan Maesteg) contributions to the debate on: Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Fourteenth sitting)
Speech in Public Bill Committees - Thu 17 Nov 2022
Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Fourteenth sitting)

"Clause 138 is another relatively minor change to the definition of a company’s service address, and it brings the definition used for the purposes of the overseas entities register into line with the language in the Companies Act. That language, the Committee will recall, defines a service address as a …..."
Stephen Kinnock - View Speech

View all Stephen Kinnock (Lab - Aberafan Maesteg) contributions to the debate on: Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Fourteenth sitting)
Speech in Public Bill Committees - Thu 17 Nov 2022
Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Fourteenth sitting)

"The clause makes some relatively minor changes to the language on the requirement to provide information requested by the registrar. The effect is to extend the existing restrictions on the ability of an overseas entity to deal with property it owns, such as by selling it, in order to apply …..."
Stephen Kinnock - View Speech

View all Stephen Kinnock (Lab - Aberafan Maesteg) contributions to the debate on: Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Fourteenth sitting)
Speech in Public Bill Committees - Thu 17 Nov 2022
Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Fourteenth sitting)

"The clause provides for certain changes to be made to the Companies Act via regulations using Henry VIII powers, where necessary, to bring the Act into line with the provisions in part 1 of the Bill. The Government’s use of Henry VIII powers to change primary legislation has generated some …..."
Stephen Kinnock - View Speech

View all Stephen Kinnock (Lab - Aberafan Maesteg) contributions to the debate on: Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (Fourteenth sitting)