Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Bill — New Clause 7 — 38A Further reforms to Companies House — 7 Mar 2022 at 21:34

The majority of MPs voted against requiring legislation to be proposed to reform Companies House, including to support the register of overseas entities, entry on which is planned to be a condition of overseas bodies registering land in the UK.

MPs were considering the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Bill.^[1][2][3]

The proposed new clause rejected by a majority of MPs in this vote was titled: 38A Further reforms to Companies House and stated:

• (1) Not later than 28 days from when Part 1 of this Act comes into force, the Secretary of State must publish draft legislation for the purpose of making further reforms to Companies House, including to support the effective functioning of the register of overseas entities.
• (2) The draft legislation must include—
• (a) new powers for the registrar to aid the verification of foreign entities applying for registration as set out in section 4 of this Act;
• (b) new powers for the registrar to better share data with enforcement agencies; and
• (c) reforms that will improve the quality and veracity of the information on the register.

The rejected new clause was accompanied by the following explanatory statement from its proposer:

• This new clause would compel the Secretary of State to publish draft legislation on reforms to Companies House, including reforms that would support the operation of the Act.

The explanatory notes^[3] explain the intended use and impact of the register:

• In order to register title to land, an overseas entity will have to be registered with Companies House and comply with the updating duty.
• The register has two primary objectives: To prevent and combat the use of land in the UK by overseas entities as a means to launder money or invest illicit funds; To increase transparency and public trust in overseas entities engaged in land ownership in the UK.

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• [1] Parliament's webpage on the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Bill, Parliament.uk
• [2] Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Bill, as introduced 1 March 2022, Parliament.uk
• [3] Explanatory notes to the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Bill, as introduced 1 March 2022, Parliament.uk

Debate in Parliament |