Margaret Hodge – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Hodge on 2015-11-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will ensure that any agreement on a central registry of beneficial ownership in Montserrat includes access for the public with legitimate reason.

James Duddridge

I refer the Right Honourable Lady to the answer given by my Hon Friend the member for Hertfordshire South West (David Gauke), the Financial Secretary to the Treasury on 16 October to questions 10437, 10438 and 10448, which sets out the criteria we expect the Overseas Territories to meet in relation to their central register of company beneficial ownership, or similarly effective system. We are in discussions with the Montserrat authorities on this and are offering technical assistance as they develop their proposals.