Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate he has made of the cost of centralisation of local land charges registers.

Centralisation of the local land charges register with Land Registry will replace a fragmented, often degrading paper system with a local land charges service fit for the 21^st Century with consistent turnaround times, standard fees and easy access to a composite digital register.

Land Registry is currently engaged in dialogue with HM Treasury in relation to the costs of centralisation. Given the early stage of the dialogue, it is not possible to reveal full details of the costs. An updated version of the Impact assessment which will contain further detail of the costs (for the purpose of measuring the impact) will be published in the near future.