My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord McKenzie, for his support for the government amendments. I turn specifically to Amendments 95A, 95B and 99A, which impact on Clause 23 and Schedule 4, and the questions raised. Clause 23 and Schedule 4 provide for Her Majesty’s Land Registry to maintain a single digital local land charges register for England and Wales. There has been a good deal of discussion on the merits of the government proposals and the perceived drawbacks. I will come to those in a moment, but first we should be clear that maintaining the status quo is not an option.
Many of those noble Lords who have—as I have—served in local government know that some local councils provide a very good local land charges service today. I pay tribute to their staff’s efforts and, as my noble friend Lord Greaves said, to the local expertise that they possess. However, many local authorities continue to operate a system that is wholly, or in part, reliant on paper records. Over time, those records will decay and we need to ensure that these are replaced or the information they contain will be lost. What is the solution? The question is not, “Should the current system change?”; it must do so. The question is whether there should be 348 different changes to develop 348 different digital systems that perpetuate the current inconsistencies in levels of service and cost for the public.
In some authorities a digital service is already available. Bolton Council holds a fully digital register and returns searches within one day. Its aim is to provide an,
“end to end process where every customer has the same experience and that is what we now offer”.
The Land Registry ran a successful year-long prototype with seven local authorities. There is no need to rely on the Government’s word that the prototype was a success. Liverpool City Council has been clear that:
“Together we demonstrated that this could work and that if Land Registry were to roll this out then there could be benefits to the conveyancing process in the UK”.
One need only look at the data currently published by local authorities themselves—for example, Bath and North East Somerset and Castle Point currently quote up to a 20-day turnaround time on their websites for a full search—to see that there is scope for improvement. Customers expect to be able to access government information online without delay or complication. Therefore, the Government are committed to meeting those expectations, and creating a single, digital local land register would be another step towards doing so.
Various questions were raised. I fully understand noble Lords’ interest in how the Government’s proposal would affect local authorities and what the implementation plan would be. I am happy to provide some details this evening.
We have recognised the need to ensure that the new system takes account of local authorities from the start. That is why we have been working with a small
number of local authorities, as I have already illustrated, throughout the programme, including prototyping the service with seven of them last year. While I can set out the steps the Government are taking to phase implementation and help local authorities to manage the impact, I reassure your Lordships’ House that those local authorities we have been working with are content with the steps we have taken, as can be seen from the comments by Bolton Council and Liverpool Council, which I quoted a few moments ago.
Turning to the steps we are taking to help local authorities manage the impact, it is important to understand the service they offer at present. Local authorities, we know, will remain best placed to be aware of any changes to charges on land within their area. That is why, under the Government proposals, they will continue to be responsible, as my noble friend Lord Greaves asked, for entering information into the single register and keeping it up to date. They will no longer need to provide the searches, however. There will be no loss of local knowledge under our proposals, simply a more modern, efficient process to help members of the public access that local knowledge. None the less we recognise that there may be some costs that arise because of these proposals, and—to answer a question asked by the noble Lord, Lord McKenzie—the DCLG is in conversation with local authorities on how these are best met.
Turning to the implementation plan—again the noble Lord, Lord McKenzie, asked what the Government’s intention is here—implementation will be phased. For each local authority, the first step will be collating the data it holds and checking that they are accurate. The checked data sets will then need to be transformed into a digital format before being transferred into the central land registry that will be created. The local land charges service will transfer from individual local authorities to the Land Registry only once this process has been completed and is functioning.
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On Amendment 99B, which seeks to amend Clause 24, the other proposal we are discussing today is in Clause 24 of the Bill, which gives wider powers to the Land Registry to enable it to play a greater role in the property sector. Our aim is simple: to make the conveyancing process quicker, cheaper, more transparent and easier to complete. For reasons that I shall explain, the Land Registry is well placed to achieve that goal, but at present it is limited in the services it can offer, not by what is in the public interest or by what its customers want, but by its limited powers under the Land Registration Act 2002. This clause corrects that. At present, the Land Registry can undertake functions and provide services relating only to land registration. But while it can provide services in relation to register of title information, it is not permitted to in relation to other property information. And while it maintains an electronic register of title, it would not have the power to maintain a register of other property interests. These limitations are not in either the Land Registry’s or the wider public’s interests.
What more could the Land Registry do? The Land Registry is already the single largest source of property information. Where it already has the power to do so,
the Land Registry has used this information and experience to develop new services, including the release of free price paid data. Giving wider powers to the Land Registry will enable it to utilise its expertise to provide a broader range of property information services for businesses and citizens, where that is what they want.
I turn to some of the questions that have been asked. The noble Lord, Lord McKenzie, talked about successor arrangements and the individual being recruited. The advert is available online. I believe that it also features in the Sunday Times. Our intent is quite clear—I am sure the noble Lord shares this intent—namely, to appoint the best candidate, whether that is an internal or external candidate. The appointment is expected to be made early next year.
The noble Lord, Lord McKenzie, and, I believe, my noble friend Lord Greaves, asked about local land charges and CON29. Modernising the local land charges service will provide benefits to both the conveyancing process and the wider economy, as I said. In the long term, the Land Registry may well look at the potential for providing a CON29 service. Currently, it is examining the policy and feasibility of providing the service, albeit this may to limited to arranging a single point of electronic access as a first stage. No significant change will take place in the near future. The ultimate objective of modernising the local land charges service is a step worth taking towards improving the conveyancing process.
My noble friend Lord Greaves asked whether there was sufficient knowledge to provide a local land charges service. I believe that I have already alluded to how the local expertise would be retained. The Land Registry will play a central role in the conveyancing process and is already familiar with the types of interest protected by local land charges. As my noble friend will know, it already administers a large and complex register of title and handles large volumes of applications and searches on a daily basis.
The noble Lord, Lord McKenzie, asked about a project plan. As I said, the Land Registry will share its project plan with local authorities and the LGA once it has completed its profiles of each local authority. I believe that I have already answered the question about data entry which my noble friend Lord Greaves raised.
The noble Lord, Lord McKenzie, asked about the Law Society and local land charges and about the pressing concern with regard to the conveyancing process. I think we all accept that the Land Registry cannot improve all areas of conveyancing and so is concentrating on local land charges—an area where we believe it can offer considerable benefits to the conveyancing industry. Data will be more easily accessible. There will be reductions in cost and ongoing improvements in delivery times. Access will be through one central point in one format and the quality and integrity of data will be maintained. This policy supports wider government priorities to facilitate easier property transactions by bringing efficiencies to the property sector and making public data more easily accessible to the benefit of the wider economy.
The noble Lord, Lord McKenzie, asked about the value being placed on local authorities’ land charges databases. I shall write to him on that, if I may. On the
issue of assistance to local authorities, as I said, we believe that the cost of 348 platforms does not provide an efficient way of providing data records for that service.
We believe that the Land Registry will be able to combine data presently held by different bodies in a readily accessible form and will be able to enhance data or process it—for example, by using existing Land Registry data to identify or provide further information on properties. That will produce an information infrastructure on which businesses, including SMEs, can build to offer new commercial services. In short, this will allow the Land Registry to meet the changing needs of its customers and stakeholders and benefit the property sector and economy overall.
I have already talked about CON29 searches. We will not consider the issues around CON29 searches provided by local authorities. However, if consideration is given to them, we will, of course, report back to the House on it.
I reiterate that these powers are enabling only; they cannot be used to take on services from other bodies against their will. The noble Lord, Lord McKenzie, alluded to privatisation. This is another misconception. I would like to address the question: is this a step towards privatisation of the Land Registry or should it wait until a future Government look at the Land Registry’s structure? First, the Government have made it clear, including in the remarks of my noble friend Lady Kramer at Second Reading, and in Committee, that we will not change the Land Registry’s commercial model. Secondly, regardless of the structure of the Land Registry, it makes sense that, where people want it to provide a service, it has the capability to do so. The legislation should permit it to do just that. These powers are a sensible step to let the Land Registry provide the services its customers ultimately want.
In short, the provisions of Clause 23 and Schedule 4 will enable the Land Registry to create a single digital service that eliminates the current regional variations, a standard digital service that reduces delays for those buying and investing in property. This will modernise the local land charges service. Clause 24 is about building on the excellent service that the Land Registry already provides. Where its customers want the Land Registry to provide a service, and where its expertise in digitisation and the management and reuse of land and property data mean that it is well placed to do so, these provisions will enable the Land Registry to act. That, in turn, will benefit the property sector and the wider economy overall, and these are things I am sure the whole House welcomes.
I hope that I have been clear, if somewhat detailed, in my response. I will read Hansard and, if there are questions that I have not answered, I will write to noble Lords. Based on the clarity which I hope I have provided on some, if not, all the questions that were asked, I hope that the noble Lord, Lord McKenzie, will be minded to withdraw the amendment.