Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the oral contribution of the Prime Minister of 11 April 2016, Official Report, columns 23-26, on the Panama Papers, whether UK law enforcement agencies will have automatic access to central registers of beneficial ownership, or equivalent platforms, in the Overseas Territories and Crown dependencies once those registers or platforms have been established.

Under the bilateral arrangements concluded with the Overseas Territories with a financial centre and Crown Dependencies, UK law enforcement and tax authorities will have quick and unrestricted access to beneficial ownership information held in central registers or similarly effective systems on corporate and legal entities incorporated in these Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies.