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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 16 October 2018 to Question 175844 on Property: Ownership, for what reason the Government did not follow the May 2016-April 2018 timeline referred to in the Open Government National Action Plan 2016-18 for bringing forward legislative proposals on the property ownership register.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 16 October 2018 to Question 175844.

The register of overseas entities will be the first of its kind in the world and we must ensure that we get our legislative proposals right in order to deliver the policy in a full and effective way. The timetable set out in the Written Ministerial Statement [HCWS425] referred to in my previous response enables this.