Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what her planned timetable is for (a) restructuring HM Land Registry fees, (b) tabling secondary legislation to restructure fees, prioritising free access to data and (c) ensuring HM Land Registry makes rapid progress towards enabling others to map land ownership data by linking title numbers with INSPIRE IDs.

HM Land Registry (HMLR) is reviewing how fees can be made simpler, fairer and enable better access to data.

HMLR intends to launch a public consultation on the design of a new fees and charging structure and to bring forward the necessary secondary legislation to effect changes with the aim of implementing the new structure in 2026.

HMLR is currently exploring how best to make the data it holds more accessible, interoperable and geospatially enabled, in line with the priorities set out in my recent letter to the HMLR Board Chair as well as the government’s blueprint for a modern digital government. This includes reviewing and improving the interoperability of published datasets, for example, adding INSPIRE IDs where appropriate.