My Lords, I am pleased to introduce government Amendments 438A, 440ZA, 440ZC, 440B and 440E, which provide clarity and certainty about how the powers relating to interests and dealings in land can and will be used.
First, the Secretary of State will have the ability to require by regulations the disclosure of beneficial ownership information, where it is not already available. These changes will supplement and reinforce the current transparency regime. Secondly, the amendments give the Secretary of State the ability to create regulations to require information on certain arrangements which control land, short of outright ownership. This will enhance the available information on those arrangements. Thirdly, the amendments would allow regulations to enable the Secretary of State to require certain details of ownership and control about a property, where it appears to the Secretary of State that there is a national security threat linked to that property. That could apply, for example, to critical national infrastructure or sensitive sites.
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Government Amendments 438B and 440F define the beneficial ownership purpose, covering information which appears to the Secretary of State to be useful for identifying and understanding the beneficial ownership of land. It will improve transparency over land ownership in England and Wales and deter the use of complex structures to obscure ownership. The beneficial ownership purpose is designed to allow the Government to collect further information in any cases where the ownership of UK land and property is not captured by the Companies House or trusts registers or is under question. However, the Government do not intend to increase the burden on businesses by requiring information to be provided twice. Rather, we will seek ways to cross-reference information already in the public domain, making it easier to link the ownership of legal entities to the ownership of land.
Amendment 438C sets out the detail of the contractual control purposes. It allows for the collection of information if it appears to the Secretary of State that it would be useful for the purpose of identifying relevant contractual rights or the identity of persons holding those rights. The rights that arise under a contract or deed are related
“to the development, use or disposal of land … and … are held for the purposes of an undertaking”,
such as a business. One such type of arrangement is option agreements, which grant the developer the right to purchase the land during a specified option period.
The contractual control arrangements are usually referred to on HM Land Registry titles, but are not recorded in an easily accessible, detailed or transparent way. That means that it can be difficult to work out where and how land is under control short of outright ownership. We want to make it easier for communities
and local authorities to understand fully the likely path of development in their area by collecting and publishing information about those arrangements. Greater transparency will also enable public bodies to create policies which support housebuilding. In the 2018 analysis of build-out rates, Sir Oliver Letwin expressed a concern at the lack of publicly available data on land holdings.
My Amendment 438D sets out in more detail the national security purpose referred to in Amendment 438A. It defines the key terms, concepts and scope of the information which may be sought, as well as from whom and in what circumstances.
The threats this country faces to its national security are not limited to England and Wales. Therefore, government Amendments 440G, 440H, 504K and 504L extend the territorial extent of Part 11 to all parts of the United Kingdom, while Amendment 438D specifies that only the national security purpose may apply beyond England and Wales. That will ensure that Ministers can require information about properties which may be used to threaten national security, wherever they are in the United Kingdom.
Amendment 440ZB sets out important restrictions on the retention, sharing and publication of information gathered under the national security purpose. We want to provide assurance to recipients of the information notices under the national security purpose that the Government will not be able to use their personal information for other purposes, including investigating criminality unrelated to the national security purpose.
I therefore commend the amendments to the Committee.