Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether the Government has taken recent steps to increase transparency on overseas ownership of UK property.

The Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022 created a new Register of Overseas Entities to crack down on foreign criminals using UK property to launder money. Government legislated for it within weeks of the invasion of Ukraine, and with the assistance of Parliament expedited regulations needed to launch the Register, which opened on 1 August 2022.

Please see my Written Ministerial Statement made on 1 February 2023, which provided an implementation update at the end of the six-month transitional period.