Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make an assessment of (a) the adequacy of the Cayman Islands’ new Regulations: Beneficial Ownership Transparency (legitimate interest access) regulations 2024, (b) whether those regulations meet the expectations laid out during the Joint Ministerial Council to provide the maximum possible degree of access and transparency, (c) whether Bermuda’s regulations are aligned with international standards set out in the EU’s 6th Anti-Money Laundering Directive and (d) whether (i) case-by-case applications and (ii) the introduction of fees between $30 and $100 will hinder journalists and NGOs from accessing beneficial ownership information to combat money laundering and its predicate offences.

Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

At the Joint Ministerial Council (JMC) in November, I confirmed the UK Government's expectation that Overseas Territories implement fully public registers of beneficial ownership. Fully public registers have already been introduced in Montserrat and Gibraltar, and commitments were made by the Falkland Islands and Saint Helena to introduce these by April 2025. Anguilla, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands and the Turks and Caicos Islands committed to implement registers of beneficial ownership accessible to those with legitimate interest, which offer the maximum possible degree of access and transparency whilst containing the necessary safeguards to protect the right to privacy in line with respective constitutions, at the latest by June 2025.

The Bermudian consultation closed in January, but regulations have not yet been published. The Cayman regulations are a welcome step in the right direction. My officials are working directly with Cayman officials to ensure the regulations meet the JMC requirement of maximum possible degree of access and transparency and are in line with emerging international standards in the EU's 6th Anti-Money Laundering Directive.

A key focus of those discussions is to ensure that the conditions of access do not unduly deter effective proactive investigations and analysis.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department has set out expected levels of transparency in line with international standards in the EU’s 6th Anti-Money Laundering Directive for legitimate interest registers of beneficial ownership in the Overseas Territories.

Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

At the Joint Ministerial Council (JMC) in November, I confirmed the UK Government's expectation that Overseas Territories implement fully public registers of beneficial ownership. Fully public registers have already been introduced in Montserrat and Gibraltar, and commitments were made by the Falkland Islands and Saint Helena to introduce these by April 2025. Anguilla, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands and the Turks and Caicos Islands committed to implement registers of beneficial ownership accessible to those with legitimate interest, which offer the maximum possible degree of access and transparency whilst containing the necessary safeguards to protect the right to privacy in line with respective constitutions, at the latest by June 2025.

The Bermudian consultation closed in January, but regulations have not yet been published. The Cayman regulations are a welcome step in the right direction. My officials are working directly with Cayman officials to ensure the regulations meet the JMC requirement of maximum possible degree of access and transparency and are in line with emerging international standards in the EU's 6th Anti-Money Laundering Directive.

A key focus of those discussions is to ensure that the conditions of access do not unduly deter effective proactive investigations and analysis.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 17 January 2025 to Question 22789 on Fraud: Coronavirus, how many (a) civil and (b) criminal compliance actions has HMRC taken relating to tax offences suspected of having been committed by those seeking and fulfilling government contracts relating to the procurement and onward supply of Personal Protective Equipment and similar products during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

HMRC conducts thousands of civil and criminal compliance actions each year. A number of these relate to tax offences suspected of having been committed by those seeking and fulfilling government contracts relating to the procurement and onward supply of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and similar products during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our Management Information systems are not currently able to extract data to quantify the total figure.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 17 January 2025 to Question 22789 on Fraud: Coronavirus, what the total number of staff is who work on recovering overpayments on business support schemes in each year since 2020-21.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The COVID-19 business support schemes that were administered by HMRC were the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), Self Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) and Eat Out to Help Out (EOHO).

Information on the resources deployed on these schemes can be found in the HMRC Annual Report and Accounts 2022/23, where HMRC expected to deploy over 2,500 staff by September 2023 through the Taxpayer Protection Taskforce.

HMRC are committed to working with COVID-19 Counter Fraud Commissioner.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 17 January 2025 to Question 22789 on Fraud: Coronavirus, how many (a) civil and (b) criminal compliance actions HMRC has taken on covid-related fraud since January 2020.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The COVID-19 business support schemes that were administered by HMRC were the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), Self Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) and Eat Out to Help Out (EOHO).

HMRC remain committed to COVID-19 scheme compliance activity and will continue to prioritise and pursue the most serious cases of abuse.

As with HMRC’s approach to non-compliance in the tax system, HMRC address the majority of COVID-19 scheme error and fraud cases through cost-effective civil investigation procedures. Where appropriate, HMRC will conduct criminal investigations and seek criminal prosecutions if it is in the public interest, particularly where the behaviour is very serious or where a criminal prosecution will act as a strong deterrent.

HMRC are committed to working with the COVID-19 Counter Fraud commissioner.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much revenue HMRC estimates has been lost due to tax evasion facilitated through overseas territories in the last five years.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) estimates the size of the tax gap, which is the difference between the amount of tax that should, in theory, be paid to HMRC, and what is actually paid. The tax gap statistics are published annually and are available at: Measuring tax gaps 2024 edition: tax gap estimates for 2022 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

Table 7.1 of the online tables shows the illustrative tax gap time series by behaviour, including evasion. The tax gap for evasion was £5.5 billion in tax year 2022 to 2023. The online tables are available at: Measuring tax gaps tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

HMRC does not separately estimate the tax gap due to tax evasion facilitated through overseas territories.

HMRC uses a wide range of civil powers to tackle evasion whilst it carries out criminal investigations for the most serious cases where it is appropriate to do so.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Cypriot counterpart on the use of Cyprus-based financial structures by UK (a) businesses and (b) individuals to evade VAT.

Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The Foreign Secretary has not had discussions with Cypriot counterparts on the use of Cyprus-based financial structures by UK businesses or individuals for tax evasion. The UK and Cypriot governments committed to share expertise and invest in capacity building to tackle illicit finance at the UK-Cyprus strategic dialogue in December 2024.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of the legal right to a care supporter in a health and social care setting.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) Fundamental Standard on Visiting and Accompanying (Regulation 9A) came into force on 6 April 2024 to strengthen requirements for CQC registered care homes, hospitals, and hospices to facilitate visiting, unless there are exceptional circumstances which mean that it is not safe to do so. This can be a visit from a family member, a friend, or a person visiting to provide companionship or support, for example, a care supporter.

We will conduct a review of Regulation 9A from April 2025, 12 months on from the legislation coming into force, to assess whether the legislation has been effective in addressing concerns about visiting in health and care settings. Depending on the outcome of the review, we will consider whether further action is needed.

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Emily Thornberry (Chair); Alex Ballinger; Aphra Brandreth; Phil Brickell

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Emily Thornberry (Chair); Aphra Brandreth; Phil Brickell; Dan Carden

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Emily Thornberry (Chair); Aphra Brandreth; Phil Brickell; Dan Carden

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