Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the use of Scottish Limited Partnerships to illegally launder money.

The Government has already acted to reduce the risk of Scottish Limited Partnerships (SLPs) being used to illegally launder money, introducing a requirement for SLPs to register Persons of Significant Control in 2017. Since then, there has been a drastic reduction in the incorporation of SLPs, which have fallen from 4,932 in 2016-17 to 657 in 2019-20.

Further to this, as part of our Economic Crime Plan, the Government issued, on 10 December 2018, its response to the consultation on the reform of limited partnership law. The reforms seek to tackle the misuse of limited partnerships, especially SLPs, while modernising the law governing them. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy will bring forward legislation when parliamentary time allows.