The Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Bill is a government bill that is being fast-tracked through Parliament. It completed its second reading and remaining stages in the House of Commons on 7 March 2022. The bill would make provision in three areas: part 1 would introduce a register of the beneficial owners of overseas entities that owned land in the UK; part 2 would make changes to strengthen unexplained wealth orders; and part 3 would make changes to sanctions legislation to help deter and prevent breaches of financial sanctions.
Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Bill (287 KB , PDF)
On 9 March 2022, the second reading of the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Bill is scheduled to take place in the House of Lords.
The Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Bill is being fast-tracked through its stages in Parliament. It completed its second reading and remaining stages in the House of Commons on 7 March 2022.
The bill’s explanatory notes state that the bill is being fast-tracked “in consequence of recent events in Ukraine”. The bill would make changes in three areas:
Legislation on establishing a register of overseas entities was subject to pre-legislative scrutiny in 2019 by the Joint Committee on the Draft Registration of Overseas Entities Bill. The Government’s human rights memorandum states that “an amended version” of the draft Register of Overseas Entities Bill forms part 1 of the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Bill.
The Government made several amendments to the bill during its committee stage in the House of Commons, including reducing the transitional period for certain overseas entities registering as an overseas entity from 18 months to 6 months and increasing fines for certain offences under the bill. It also added a new chapter 2 in part 3 of the bill on sanctions.
The bill has cross-party support, although concerns were raised in the House of Commons around enforcement, including preventing ‘asset flight’ and on reducing the bill’s transitional period further. Three non-government amendments were defeated on division at committee. These were on: reporting on the funding for enforcement agencies; publication of draft legislation on reforms to Companies House; and asset freezing in respect of individuals considered for sanctions.
The Government has said that it will look at a number of the concerns raised in the Commons during the bill’s passage through the House of Lords.
Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Bill (287 KB , PDF)
The collapse of major UK companies such as BHS and Carillion has raised questions about the effectiveness of the country’s auditing practices. The government has committed to reforming the auditing industry. The 2024 King’s Speech included plans to publish a draft bill comprising measures to establish a new audit, reporting and governance regulatory body with enhanced enforcement powers. The draft bill has not yet been published.
This briefing is the fifth of a series on the post-war history of the UK economy. The series proceeds decade-by-decade from the 1950s onwards, providing an overview of the key macroeconomic developments of each decade. This fifth briefing looks at the 1990s. In this decade the UK economy settled into a period of low inflation and steady growth; however, living standards growth was lower and more regionally concentrated than in previous decades.
The Budget Responsibility Bill would require ministers to request an assessment from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) for every major fiscal announcement and give the OBR the power to decide to publish one if the minister failed to request it. This follows the September 2022 ‘mini-budget’. The statement included plans that would have resulted in a projected £45bn reduction in tax income. It did not have an accompanying OBR assessment.
