Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to section 51 of the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018, what steps he is taking to assist the governments of the Overseas Territories to introduce publicly accessible beneficial ownership registers.

The Government has assured the Overseas Territories of our commitment to working collaboratively with them on the introduction of publicly registers. Minister of State Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon has already proposed the establishment of a UK- Overseas Territories technical working group to meet early 2019 and will discuss more formally the implementation timetable and any initial requests for support at the Overseas Territories Joint Ministerial Council later this year.