Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what recent progress his Department has made on the introduction of public registers of ownership by British overseas territories.

In March, the UK and Overseas Territories discussed their commitments and timelines to implement public registers, either accessible to all members of the public or with access predicated on 'legitimate interest'. I [Minister Rutley] re-stated the UK's expectation that where public access is predicated on 'legitimate interest' this will include media and civil society, among others, and is an interim step to access for all members of the public. The FCDO is funding expert NGO, Open Ownership, to provide technical assistance to expedite implementation; they are providing advice to the governments of Anguilla, British Virgin Islands, Cayman, Montserrat, St. Helena, and Turks and Caicos. Officials are conducting a stocktake of progress.