Working Group undertaking the Critical Review of the Proposal to Merge the Valuation Office, Ordnance Survey Ireland and the Property Registration Authority REPORT TO GOVERNMENT June 2012 List of abbreviations LINZ Land Information New Zealand LPI Land and Property Information (New South Wales) LPS Land and Property Services Agency (Northern Ireland) LPSIS Land, Property & Spatial Information Services 1 LSG Land Services Group (South Australia) LTSA Land Title & Survey Authority (British Columbia) OSI Ordnance Survey Ireland PRA Property Registration Authority PSRA Property Services Regulatory Authority SDI Spatial Data Infrastructure SLIP Shared Land Information Platform [Western Australia] VO Valuation Office WTE Whole Time Equivalent (in relation to staff) 1 Land, Property & Spatial Information Services is the working title in this report for the possible organisation which would result from a merger of the Valuation Office, Ordnance Survey Ireland and the Property Registration Authority 2 Table of contents Page Foreword 6 Executive Summary of Report 7 Chapter 1 Introduction 13 Background....................................................................................................13 1.1 Public Service Reform Plan..............................................................13 1.2 Working Group .................................................................................13 1.3 McCarthy Report ..............................................................................14 1.4 Brief Description of Three Agencies under Review ..........................14 1.4.1 Property Registration Authority.............................................14 1.4.2 Valuation Office.....................................................................15 1.4.3 Ordnance Survey Ireland......................................................16 1.5 Technology Background...................................................................17 1.5.1 Property Registration Authority.............................................17 1.5.2 Valuation Office....................................................................17 1.5.3 Ordnance Survey Ireland......................................................18 1.6 Common Issues / Complementarities...............................................19 1.7 Creating a Merged Land, Property and Spatial Information Services Organisation (LPSIS) is consistent with principle and is feasible...................20 Chapter 2 Approach in Other Countries 21 2.1 Northern Ireland – Land and Property Services Agency ........................21 2.1.1 Governance of LPS (NI) ...................................................................21 2.1.2 Ministerial Control.............................................................................22 2.1.3 Accountability ...................................................................................22 2.1.4 Lessons from Northern Ireland Experience ......................................23 2.2 Australia.................................................................................................24 2.2.1 Land Victoria ....................................................................................24 2.2.2 Landgate, Western Australia ............................................................25 2.2.3 Land & Property Information, New South Wales ..............................26 2.2.4 Land Services Group, South Australia..............................................27 2.3 Land Information New Zealand (LINZ)...................................................27 2.4 Canada – Land Title and Survey Authority, British Columbia ................27 3 2.5 Lessons from Experience in Other Common Law Jurisdictions 28 Chapter 3 Administrative Costs and Benefits of Proposed Merger 29 3.1 Broad Organisational Structures............................................................29 3.1.1 Property Registration Authority.........................................................29 3.1.2 Valuation Office ................................................................................30 3.1.3 Ordnance Survey Ireland .................................................................31 3.2 Income and Expenditure of the three organisations...............................32 3.3 Staff Numbers........................................................................................33 3.3.1 Property Registration Authority.........................................................33 3.3.2 Valuation Office ................................................................................33 3.3.3 Ordnance Survey Ireland..................................................................34 3.4 Non-Pay Administrative Costs ...............................................................34 3.4.1 Property Registration Authority.........................................................34 3.4.2 Valuation Office ................................................................................35 3.4.3 Ordnance Survey Ireland..................................................................35 3.5 Major Deliverables set out in Strategic and Business Plans ..................35 3.5.1 Property Registration Authority.........................................................35 3.5.2 Valuation Office ................................................................................38 3.5.3 Ordnance Survey Ireland..................................................................39 Chapter 4 Policy Risks and Benefits 42 4.1 Funding ............................................................................................42 4.2 Leadership/Governance ...................................................................43 4.3 People/Staff......................................................................................44 Chapter 5 Legislation and Statutory Roles 45 5.1 Property Registration Authority.........................................................45 5.2 Valuation Office................................................................................46 5.3 Ordnance Survey Ireland..................................................................47 5.4 Legislative Changes Required to Achieve A Merged Land and Property Organisation....................................................................................49 Chapter 6 Inputs from Agencies 50 6.1 Valuation Office................................................................................50 6.2 Ordnance Survey..............................................................................51 4 Chapter 7 Recommendations to Government 53 7.1 The Working Group recommends to Government that, in principle, it should decide to proceed with a merger of the Property Registration Authority, the Valuation Office and Ordnance Survey Ireland........................................53 7.2 The Working Group recommends to Government, that, if it decides to proceed with the merger, a Transition Team should be put in place as soon as possible to advance the merger process. ......................................................54 7.3 The Working Group recommends to Government that, if it decides to proceed with the merger, consideration should be given to the appointment at an early date of a Chief Executive Officer Designate of the new merged organisation to act as key driver in respect of the merger..............................55 7.4 The Working Group recommends to Government that, if it decides to proceed with the merger, responsibility for the Property Registration Authority, Valuation Office and Ordnance Survey Ireland should be transferred to a single Minister................................................................................................55 7.5 The Working Group recommends to Government that, if it decides to proceed with the merger, the legislative requirements for the merged organisation should be assessed as a matter of priority. ...............................56 APPENDIX 1 MEMBERSHIP OF THE WORKING GROUP ..........................58 APPENDIX 2 TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR THE WORKING GROUP ......59 APPENDIX 3 GUIDING PRINCIPLES INFORMING THE GOVERNMENT’S APPROACH TO AGENCY RATIONALISATIONS .........................................61 APPENDIX 4 NATIONAL REVALUATION PROGRAMME..........................62 APPENDIX 5 VALUATION TRIBUNAL........................................................65 APPENDIX 6 ORDNANCE SURVEY IRELAND PENSIONS ISSUE...........66 APPENDIX 7 GEODIRECTORY [OSI joint venture with An Post] ...............67 APPENDIX 8 OSI Service Agreement ..........................................................68 APPENDIX 9 Details of Technology Employed by the Three Agencies.......69 APPENDIX 10 Detailed Paper from the Valuation Office...............................79 APPENDIX 11 Detailed Paper from Ordnance Survey Ireland 93 APPENDIX 12 Detailed Paper from Property Registration Authority 114 5 Foreword The Working Group was established to conduct the critical review of one of the Agency rationalisation proposals set out in the Government’s Public Service Reform plan, i.e. the proposal to merge the Valuation Office, Ordnance Survey Ireland and the Property Registration Authority. As Chair of the Group, I would like to thank all the members of the Working Group for their contributions to the deliberations of the Group. All members demonstrated their commitment to ensuring that the review was conducted in the most searching way possible within the time available, and to arriving at recommendations to Government that the Group as a whole could stand over. I would particularly