Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to support financial centres in the (a) British Overseas Territories and (b) Crown Dependencies introducing public beneficial ownership registers.

The UK Government is committed to supporting the Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies to deliver commitments to implement publicly accessible registers of beneficial ownership. Our recent support includes: working with smaller Overseas Territories to update their systems to enable public access; purchasing a new company register for Anguilla, which will allow for public access; and funding Open Ownership, a specialist NGO, to provide technical assistance to each Overseas Territory.