Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on improving levels of compliance with and supervision of the 2017 Money Laundering Regulations of changing HMRC’s policy of not making public the fines incurred from lack of compliance with those regulations of 2017; and if he will take step so to change that policy.

HMRC has a duty under Regulation 85 of the 2017 regulations to publish details of businesses that do not comply with those regulations. They will start to publish these details later this year.

HMRC considers cases individually to decide whether to publish details in full, anonymously, or not at all. Where a decision is made to publish in full, the following information will be published:

• the name and address of the business owner or business
• the nature of the breach or breaches
• the penalty issued by HMRC
• the status of any appeal against the penalty

As set out in the Regulations, HMRC will publish anonymously if it considers that the effect of publishing details about an individual or business would be disproportionate. In addition, it will not publish details at all if it decides that a penalty under these regulations is minor or may affect financial markets significantly.

The details will be published regularly on GOV.UK and available to view for at least 5 years. Only breaches under the 2017 regulations will be published and these will include:

• details of businesses that have received penalties for non-compliance with the regulations (including for trading without being supervised by HMRC)
• a list of breaches where HMRC has decided that the business should be anonymous
• the total number and value of minor penalties issued under the 2017 regulations.

HMRC will also publish the total number and value of penalties issued under the 2007 regulations for the period.