Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans he has to respond to the recent finding by HMRC that 98,150 workers were paid less than the minimum wage in 2016-17.
Answered by Andrew Griffiths
Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) enforce the National Minimum Wage (NMW) on behalf of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. We are clear that anyone entitled to be paid the minimum wage should receive it.
The enforcement budget has been increased to £25.3m for 2017/18 up from £13 million in 2015/2016. We have also doubled the fines for firms who break the rules from 100% to 200% of the arrears owed to the worker, up to a maximum of £20,000 per worker.
In addition to proactive targeted enforcement activity and a £1.75 million communications campaign last year to raise employer awareness, HMRC follows up on every complaint it receives; including those made to the ACAS helpline and via the online complaint form.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many firms are registered as Scottish Limited Partnerships in the UK.
Answered by Andrew Griffiths
The number of firms registered as Scottish Limited Partnerships in the UK is 29,709.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many firms are registered as Scottish Limited Partnerships in the UK.
Answered by Andrew Griffiths
The number of firms registered as Scottish Limited Partnerships in the UK is 29,709.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
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 22 January 2018 to Question 123021, what information his Department holds on the number of staff who will be recruited to Companies House in 2018-19; and what plans he has to increase recruitment to that organisation after the next 12 months.
Answered by Andrew Griffiths
Companies House ensures it has the appropriate amount of resources to effectively manage the register, including undertaking the required level of enforcement of the register of People of Significant Control. Staffing levels for 2018/19 have yet to be finalised but these will be made available in its Business Plan which will be published before the next financial year.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans he has to introduce automated verification systems in Companies House to check the accuracy of the register of beneficial ownership for companies; and how much it costs to maintain the public register each year with regards to staff, IT and any associated overheads.
Answered by Andrew Griffiths
There are no current plans to introduce automated verification of beneficial ownership information.
However, Companies House is undertaking a number of activities to improve the quality of information relating to beneficial ownership, the People with Significant Control (PSC) data, on the register, including:
1. contacting companies where they believe the company has misunderstood the requirements, to ensure that the records are corrected and that they comply with their legal requirements;
2. pursuing companies that have not provided PSC information in their confirmation statement or that have not provided a statement of additional matters;
3. following up with companies and PSCs where they have issued notices to their PSC (asking the PSCs to provide them with information), or restrictions (where a PSC has failed to provide information), to ensure they update the information on their company records;
4. seeking compliance from companies where there has been a complaint about missing or incorrect PSC information.
The cost of maintaining the entire public register in 2016/17 was £56.6m. Staff costs were £28.5m and non-staff administration costs were £28.1m. Further information can be found in the Companies House Annual Report and Accounts for 2016/17.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
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 22 January 2018 to Question 122724, on companies: registration, what proportion of those queries categorised as alleged fraudulent activity/breaches of Companies Act were relayed to the appropriate team.
Answered by Andrew Griffiths
All of the queries categorised as alleged fraudulent activity/breaches of Companies Act were relayed to the appropriate team.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on business and public confidence of the HM Revenue and Customs' guidance note which maintains that data concerning company registration from Companies House should not be relied upon because this data is obtained only on a trust basis.
Answered by Andrew Griffiths
No such assessment has been made. HM Revenue and Customs’ guidance note “Anti-Money Laundering Supervision: Trust or Company Service Providers” does not comment on the basis on which Companies House obtains company registration data.
Companies House carries out checks on all information received, ensuring that it is valid, complete and in compliance with company law filing requirements. The obligation to ensure that the information is accurate lies with the company and its directors. The validation checks serve to help companies get it right.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
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 10 January 2018 to Question 121070, how many staff at Companies House monitor the accuracy of data on the beneficial ownership register for companies; and how many of those staff have been recruited in the past 12 months.
Answered by Andrew Griffiths
Companies House carries out systematic checks on all information received, ensuring that it is valid, complete and in compliance with company law filing requirements. This includes people with significant control (PSC) information provided on incorporation and throughout the life of a company.
Companies House is committed to ensuring companies comply with the requirements of the PSC regime, our current compliance rate is 98%. There are 20 staff employed to deal with PSC compliance activities and 18 of these have been recruited in the last year. They will recruit further staff this year.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
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 20 December 2017 to Question 118852, on Money Laundering, how frequently and in relation to which comparative data are Companies House's systematic checks of the Companies Register conducted.
Answered by Andrew Griffiths
Companies House carries out systematic checks on all information received, ensuring that it is valid, complete and in compliance with company law filing requirements.
Digital filings are subjected to a number of systematic checks. These help companies file the right information at the time of filing. It improves the quality of the information, and means that Companies House does not have to reject filings back to companies.
Examiners employ similar checks for paper filings. Systematic checks and rules help ensure, among other things, that the specific document filed contains the correct company name and number, that the information filed is required by the legislation, that it is authenticated by the company.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how he categorises different submissions that have been made through the Companies House's register of companies Report It feature; and what submissions he has received by category through that feature since its launch.
Answered by Andrew Griffiths
34,111 queries have been received in the period from introduction on 28 July 2017 to 18 Dec 2017. A proportion of these queries are sampled for categorisation purposes. Approximately 45% are correctly addressed to Companies House. Companies House categorises into the following major categories in order to relay to the correct team for further action: General enquiries, registered office address & directors appointment disputes, complaints (customer service and removal of personal details), alleged fraudulent activity/breaches of Companies Act, system issues and removal or amendment of documents from register.