Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure all UK Overseas Territories approve laws allowing access to company ownership data to those with a legitimate interest, as they committed to do by April 2025.

At the Overseas Territories Joint Ministerial Council (JMC) in November 2024, the Falkland Islands and Saint Helena committed to implement fully public registers by April 2025. The British Virgin Islands (BVI), Cayman Islands, Bermuda, Anguilla and Turks and Caicos Islands agreed to implement registers of beneficial ownership, accessible to those with a legitimate interest, by June 2025. It remains our expectation that the Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies will ultimately implement fully public registers, such as those that are already in place in Gibraltar and Montserrat.

Every Territory is making progress towards these commitments and Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office officials are in regular contact with counterparts in the Overseas Territories on their proposals for registers to ensure they meet the agreement made at JMC. The Cayman Islands has introduced an accessible beneficial ownership register. Officials are working together to ensure that this system offers the best possible level of transparency and accessibility.

The Minister of State, Stephen Doughty MP continues to raise this directly with elected leaders across the Overseas Territories including a recent conference call with all leaders and representatives - and has recently spoken to and written to the Premiers of a number of territories individually on this issue, and offered further assistance to the small number who remain off track from meeting their commitments.