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The Registers of Scotland: Service to the P”B!X

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NATIONAL AUDIT OFFICE REPORTBY THE COMPTROLLERAND AUDITORGENERAL The Registersof Scotland: Serviceto the Public ORDEREDBY THEHOUSEOFCOMMONS TOBEPRINTED 12APRlL1994 LONDON:HMSO f7.40 NET 330 THE REGISTERS OF SCOTLAND: SERVICE TO THE P”B!X This report has been prepared under Section 6 of the National Audit Act 1983 for presentation to the House of Commons in accordance with Section 9 of the Act. John Bourn National Audit Office Comptroller and Auditor General 23 March 1994 The Comptroller and Auditor General is the head of the National Audit Office employingsome 800 staff. He, and the NAO, are totally independent of Government. He certifies the accounts of all Government departments and a wide range of other public sector bodies; and he has statutory authority to report to Parliament on the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which departments and other bodies have used their resources. THE REGISTERS OF SCOTLAND: SERVICE TO THE PUBLIC Contents Pages Summary and conclusions 1 Part 1: Introduction 4 Part 2: Maintaining the registers 7 Part 3: Quality of service 13 Part 4: The Land Register 17 Glossary 22 Appendices 1. The 15 public registers 23 2. The Agency’s aims and objectives 25 3. Workload and production 27 4. Results of National Audit Office surveys 28 5. Chronology 32 Reoislrationof property in Scotland W SasineRegister a Land Register 1. Dumbanon 2. Stirling 3. Clachmannan 4. Renfrew 5. Glasgow 6. WestLothian 7. Lanark Registrationof property in Scotlandis basedon the former county boundariesand is being transferredfrom the SasineRegister to the new Land Register.Seven of the thirty-three countieswere transferredduring 1979-93,and the remainderare plannedto transfer by 2003. The countiesalready transferred to the Land Re”is+tprPnntlin lh”,,, d:, ner cent “‘smtl.mrl’a hnllain” stncr THE REGISTERS OF SCOTLAND: SERVICE TO THE PUBLIC Summary and conclusions 1 In Scotland ownership of land is deduced either from deeds recorded in the General Register of Sasines or from titles in the Land Register for Scotland. It is vital to owners and prospective owners of property that these registers are kept up to date and are open to public inspection. The Registers of Scotland provide this service. z This report sets out the results of a National Audit Office examination of the Registers of Scotland’s performance since they became an Executive Agency in April 1990. The examination focussed on the Sasine and the Land Registers as 95 per cent of the Agency’s staff resources are devoted to their upkeep. 3 The Secretary of State has set three primary aims for the Agency: (i) to provide an efficient and economic service to agreed standards based on customer needs; (ii) to complete the Land Register project: and [iii) to cover expenditure with income. The National Audit Office examined whether the Agency had set challenging targets to meet their objectives, and the extent to which objectives and targets had been achieved: whether the Agency’s service meets the requirements of customers and the public; and whether implementation of the Land Register is being achieved to plans and cost. Main findings and conclusions On maintaining the registers 4 The Agency have concentrated their resources on reducing the large backlog of cases and the average time taken to deal with them. It is not possible however to assess the extent to which the consequent reductions stem from improvements in efficiency, the use of new technology or the 350 extra staff employed. The reduction in new cases also had some impact (paragraph 2.11-2.13, Tables 3, 5, 6). 5 The Agency intend to keep outstanding casework to minimum levels through economic and efficient working practices. To this end they are reducing manpower through natural wastage and are training staff to be more flexible in meeting fluctuations in the level of work (paragraph 2.21). 6 While reducing backlogs, the Agency have missed some of the performance targets set by the Secretary of State. In particular he set the Agency targets to reduce the unit cost of their main categories of work by five per cent for each of the three years 1990-91 to 1992-93 and by two per cent for later years. However actual 1 THE R!XIS?ERS OF SCOTLAND: SERVICE TO THE PUBLIC performance could not be measured for 1990-91; and, for 1991-93, only one of the four unit cost targets set was achieved. The Agency have not felt it necessary to analyse their failure to meet these targets [paragraphs 2.6-2.8). 7 The Agency recognise that their current management information systems are incapable of establishing the cost of individual activities, of producing sound unit cost statistics or measuring changes in efficiency. A new system is planned for April 1994, although there may be some delay before it operates to its full potential (paragraphs 2.9-2.10). 8 Since the absence of reliable management information precludes a clear view of any shortcomings in their performance, there is an urgent requirement for the Agency to implement an effective management information system. On quality of service 9 The Agency have a primary aim to maintain a quality of product and service which meets the requirements of their customers - mainly solicitors, search companies and surveyors. A National Audit Office survey of the Scottish public found a low awareness of the Agency and their functions [paragraphs 3.1-3.2). 10 The Agency are beginning to find out about individual customer requirements; they have resolved some points of dissatisfaction and have taken steps to improve service. A recent survey by the Agency showed that respondents, mainly solicitors, were broadly content with the service provided, but were concerned at the time taken to process some casework. Search companies are dissatisfied with some aspects of the Agency’s fee arrangements and the general level of service provided. These findings suggest that the Agency should do more to determine customer needs and how best to meet them (paragraphs 3.3-3.5). 11 Fee policy, set by the Secretary of State, is that the Agency should charge fixed fees, intended to cover actual costs, for most of their services. For land registration, the main fee is linked to the purchase price of the property and does not therefore take account of the differences in cost of processing registrations as between the Land and Sasine Registers. Although the Agency’s income benefited from the rise in property values during the 198Os, fees are generally the same or lower in real terms than in 1981 (paragraphs 3.7 and 3.11). 12 Under the current fee structure for land registration the Agency are able to use the profit in some areas to subsidise losses in others. Notwithstanding this advantage the Agency should examine the cost of their various activities with a view to identifying more clearly those where their performance could be improved and their targets met more consistently. On the Land Register 13 The Land Register is progressively replacing the Sasine Register. Work began in 1979, with completion expected in 1989. The project was not supported by any cost benefit analysis or detailed implementation plans. The Land Register is designed to cover all of Scotland’s 33 former counties; but when the Agency were created only four of them had been transferred to the Land Register. The costs of introducing the Land Register between 1979 and 1990 are not known (paragraphs 4.2-4.3). 2 THERBGISTERSOFSCOTLAND:SERVICBTOTHEPUBLIC 14 Since their creation in 1990 the Agency have added three new counties to the Land Register. Its extension to the whole of Scotland is now planned for 2003 at a further cost of ~24 million. The effects of the 14 year delay, from 1989 to 2003, in implementing the Land Register have not been identified in terms of its total cost or in terms of the service to the public and the cost of conveyancing [paragraphs 4.3-4.6). 15 As the project is financed by fee income, the timetable reflects the Agency’s expectation of future cash flow. However the Agency are not allowed to carry forward annual operating surpluses in order to help fund the project. In 1991 the Treasury accepted a recommendation by the Committee of Public Accounts that the Land Registry in England and Wales should have trading fund status. This allows the Registry to carry forward surpluses and deficits (paragraphs 4.7-4.10). 16 The Agency have a primary aim to extend the Land Register in order to bring the benefits of cheaper conveyancing to the Scottish public. But as solicitors’ fees are determined primarily by market forces, the Agency accept that they cannot exert a major influence over the cost of conveyancing. A limited survey by the National Audit Office found that the fees paid by householders bore no relationship to the Register upon which their property was recorded (paragraphs 4.13-4.15). 17 The Agency started life with a considerable backlog of casework, a Land Register project in which little progress was being made and a lack of financial and management information. Executive Agency status has helped to realise a number of important and overdue improvements: aims and objectives have been set, performance measures extended and published, the large backlog of casework reduced, average turnround times shortened and the delayed Land Register project put on a firmer footing. But the Agency have not met all their targets and still have some way to go before they can measure and demonstrate improvements in their efficiency and bring the benefits to the public, notably by completing the Land Register project. 3 THE RRGISTRRS OF SCOTLAND: SERVICE TO THE PUBLIC Part 1: Introduction 1.1 The Registers of Scotland are an Executive present this mainly computerised register Agency responsible for maintaining 15 public covers all new properties and some older registers of Scottish legal documents properties in seven of Scotland’s 33 former [Appendix 1).
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