Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the proposals in the Land Registry's consultation on amending the Land Registration Rules Act 2003 relating to large-scale electronic conveyancing on (a) all small and medium-sized conveyancing companies and (b) small and medium-sized conveyancing companies based in rural areas with poor internet coverage.

The rule changes proposed in the recent consultation are deregulatory. As a consequence, a Regulatory Triage Assessment dated 2 August 2016 was completed and is publicly available

(https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/590721/Land-Registry-Regulatory-Triage-Assessment.docx).

A final stage impact assessment will be submitted to the Regulatory Policy Committee in advance of clearance being sought for the rules to be made.

So far as the Rule changes that deal with digital conveyancing are concerned, they are permissive in nature. They would allow, but not force, businesses to use new digital conveyancing and registration services.