The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) says customers spent £8.7m accessing company information on the register via the Companies House website in 2013-2014.

The change will come into effect from the second quarter of 2015, when any public information on the register that is delivered through digital channels will be available free of charge.

This will include basic information about a company, accounts,appointments and charges, and other events in a company’s life that are registered at Companies House. Electronic images will also be available free of charge. Any services in which Companies House has to manually intervene will continue to be chargeable.

BIS said the move formed part of the UK’s efforts to improve corporate transparency which formed a key strand of the G8 declaration at the Lough Erne summit in 2013. Related to this, on 16 July Parliament is debating the second reading of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill 2014-15 which includes plans for a new, public register of everyone who owns companies registered in the UK.

Business secretary Vince Cable said: ‘The government firmly believes that the best way to maximise the value to the UK economy of the information which Companies House holds, is for it to be available as open data. By making its data freely available and free of charge, Companies House is making the UK a more transparent, efficient and effective place to do business.’

A briefing for MPs produced by Christian Aid, Global Witness, Cafod, Global Integrity, Tax Research and Open Corporates claims that it is currently unclear whether the government intends to have any system for checking the accuracy of information which companies supply for the register of beneficial ownership. It also calls for companies to have to update the register within 14 days of changes in their owners.

The group also wants to see tougher sanctions for non-compliance and says that where companies are given exemptions from having to reveal who really owns them, the register should give the reasons for this. It wants any such exemptions to be open to challenge, and only allowed in exceptional circumstances.

Joseph Stead, Christian Aid’s senior adviser on economic justice, said: ‘We are delighted that the UK is leading the world with its plan for a new register of who owns companies - but Parliament will need to work out how best to ensure it is accurate.  So far, government plans for the register will not ensure that the information on it about who owns each company is checked and up-to-date.’