Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has plans to bring forward legislative proposals to reform the powers and role of Companies House.

The Corporate Transparency and Register Reform consultation, published in May 2019, outlined plans for the reform of Companies House. These far-reaching reforms include identity verification of company directors and those who control companies; an expansion in the powers of Companies House to query and challenge information submitted to the register; and improving the processes for supressing personal information from the register in instances where it is no longer relevant or presents a potential threat to the safety of individuals. This consultation received 1,320 responses and in September 2020, the Government published its response.

Please see the below links to the 2019 Corporate Transparency and Register Reform consultation and to the Department’s response:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/819994/Corporate_transparency_and_register_reform.pdf;

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/925059/corporate-transparency-register-reform-government-response.pdf.

Following this consultation, the Department published, in December 2020, three further consultations, which set out further details of the Government’s reform proposals. These consultations included ‘Corporate transparency and register reform: implementing the ban on corporate directors’; ‘Corporate transparency and register reform: improving the quality and value of financial information on the UK companies register’; and ‘Corporate transparency and register reform: powers of the registrar’.

Please see the links to these consultations below:

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/corporate-transparency-and-register-reform-implementing-the-ban-on-corporate-directors;

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/corporate-transparency-and-register-reform-powers-of-the-registrar;

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/corporate-transparency-and-register-reform-improving-the-quality-and-value-of-financial-information-on-the-uk-companies-register.

The Government will respond to these consultations in due course and plans to legislate when Parliamentary time allows.