Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, when the cross-agency task force investigating the so-called Panama Papers will make its first progress report to Parliament.

On 8 November, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and Home Secretary updated the House on the progress of the cross-agency taskforce that was set up to analyse and take action on the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists’ Panama Papers data leak (HCWS247).

As part of this update, they confirmed that HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) had opened civil and criminal investigations into 22 individuals for suspected tax evasion, and has placed 43 high net worth individuals under special review while their links to Panama are further investigated.

HMRC will engage the relevant prosecuting authorities to bring any identified wrongdoing before the courts. On 7 December, it confirmed that two arrests had been made as part of a criminal investigation involving the use of a number of offshore companies to disguise the beneficial ownership of UK property.

As stated previously, Parliament will be kept updated on any significant developments.