Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he has discussed tax (a) avoidance and (b) evasion with his counterpart in the Cayman Islands since the last meeting of the Joint Ministerial Council.
Following the Overseas Territories Joint Ministerial Council on European Negotiations on 7 February, the Minister for the Overseas Territories, my Nobel Friend, the Baroness Anelay of St Johns, discussed with Cayman Premier Alden McLaughlin progress on the implementation of the bilateral arrangement the UK concluded with The Cayman Islands in April 2016 on the exchange of beneficial ownership information. The bilateral arrangements agreed with the Overseas Territories (OTs) with financial centres represent a significant step forward in our ability to investigate criminality, including tax evasion, and put the OTs well ahead of other similar jurisdictions.