Online Annual Review 2005/6

Broader range of services

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 6:  Develop a broader range of services for property professionals, the public and others

Commercial services

The Office of Fair Trading study into public sector information holders will provide us with the opportunity to examine the opportunity to undertake commercial work. We plan to use this study to investigate a number of alternative business framework models to develop and market new ‘commercial services’.

We are currently piloting two new, non-statutory consultancy services. The first enables us to monitor register changes on a given portfolio of properties. The second enables us to match and ‘cleanse’ data on behalf of commercial organisations.

There will be a wide range of potential customers for the first of these services, including local authorities (to monitor changes to their council tax records) and providers of major infrastructure projects, such as the Highways Agency. Potential customers for the second service include major financial institutions who wish to verify property ownership of potential borrowers within the unsecured loan market and so reduce fraudulent loan applications.

International Unit

Land Registry’s International Unit was established in 2003. It has undertaken a wide range of activities in the year.

• Two-week evaluation study of the Barbadian Land Title Registration programme.
• Upgrade of the Alderney Land Registry’s IT systems.
• With the e-Business Group and colleagues from the Survey and Land Registration Bureau of Bahrain (SLRB), we made a presentation at a symposium on land registration in the Arab world.
• Provided input into the UK Department for International Development (DFID)-funded Security, Justice and Growth programme in Nigeria. Working with the British Council, we have provided practical and technical guidance to assist with the improvement of land registry operations in Lagos, Kano, Enugu and Benue states.
• Provided technical support to Nigeria’s Federal Land Registry, which has a key role in the development of a robust national land registration strategy. We signed a memorandum of understanding with the Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, which is responsible for the Federal Land Registry, with the objective of providing advice and guidance in organisational and structural issues, capacity building, reform of land and property laws, the creation of national technical standards and the application of technology.
• We have sought further engagement with DFID about the possibility of using our experience and expertise elsewhere and have met officials responsible for the execution of land administration projects in India and Ghana. We have also provided direct input into a consultative workshop on land policy in Africa, organised by the African Union in collaboration with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the African Development Bank and supported by DFID.
• Working with colleagues from the Registers of Scotland International Consultancy Group, we have put together bids for land registration-related work in Slovenia, Lesotho and Mozambique.
• Ted Beardsall, our Deputy Chief Executive, together with members of our International Unit, attended the fourth session of the UNECE Working Party on Land Administration (WPLA).
• Collaboration with our colleagues in the SLRB has continued and we organised a study visit to our Information Services Directorate based at Plymouth for senior officials from the SLRB.