Land Registry

Mr. Jim Cunningham
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent representations his Department has received on the Land Registry accelerated transformation programme.

Mr. Wills
Since the publication of its consultation document on 22 October 2009, Land Registry has received responses from many interested parties including customers, MPs and members of staff. I have also met some MPs and staff representatives to discuss the proposals. Following the closure of the consultation on 29 January 2010 all of the responses will be carefully considered.

Mr. Jim Cunningham
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent estimate he has made of the percentage of land not registered with the Land Registry; and what assessment he has made of the likely effects of the Land Registry accelerated transformation programme on the prospects for registration of such land.

Mr. Wills
Over 70 per cent. of land in England and Wales, including most urban land, is now registered with Land Registry in about 21 million registered titles. The registered area has increased from 45 per cent. in 2004, when data on geographic coverage first became available. This growth is principally attributable to Land Registry's strategy of persuading landowners of the benefits of voluntary first registration. A large percentage of the land that remains unregistered is in rural areas or includes large estates or public landholdings.

One of Land Registry's strategic objectives is to “Extend the benefits of Land Registration by creating a comprehensive land register”. The accelerated transformation programme proposals assume that Land Registry will continue to dedicate resources to voluntary registration and set challenging targets annually to drive the achievement of the comprehensive register.