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I am a representative of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) in HM Land Registry. This week, we lodged our formal response to BIS on the issue of status, making a clear case for retaining the entire organisation in the Civil Service. This has been copied to many industry professional bodies, including Law Society. We have also made representations to the Secretary of State, Dr Cable, calling for more transparency. What potential respondents may not know is that a move to GovCo (one of the three options) will mean that the LR Board will start to implement massive detrimental cuts to the size and shape of Land Registry, based on their 'digital by default' plans (including e-mandation) and proposals to radically alter the role of conveyancers in the registration process. We think this would have massive consequences, not least on smaller conveyancing firms. The second omission, re the GovCo option, is that a 2011 Feasibility Study, carried out by KPMG, concludes that the best way to fully privatise HMLR is to firstly vest it into a GovCo. These key elements only scratch the surface of the detailed plans. We would urge everyone, who wished to see this vital public service maintained (and not destroyed) to respond to the consultation, calling for no change to our current civil service status.

We are also mindful of the wider powers consultation (including local land charges). When the idea was first mooted, we were told that this would mean circa 100 full time jobs in HMLR, possibly involving TUPE of some local authority staff. Now it is clear that plans are to simply create an e-register and hive off the actual day to day processing to a private firm. We, therefore, understand the concerns raised by IPSA and others, in relation to quality of service and cost etc. We are considering our position on this, with a view to responding to the consultation.

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