Land Registration (Network Access) Rules 2008

I am grateful for those comments and for the general welcome for the rules, although I sense that the noble Lord, Lord Thomas of Gresford, is rather suspicious of these modern methods. He prayed in aid the collapse of our system earlier this afternoon, which meant that we could not see the results of the Division in the Chamber. The development of electronic conveyancing, none the less, has many advantages for customers, and I hope that we are first and foremost thinking of the public. A paper will still be kept, so I do not think that the parchment is under threat. I think that the noble Lord, Lord Thomas, accepts that the parchments will continue to be there, but he was arguing that if anyone wanted to get hold of them they would have to go through a process in parallel to the electronic system. We have to accept that. Overall, there surely are advantages to be had in electronic conveyancing. I understand the question raised by the noble Lord, Lord Henley, about data security and protection. As I said in my opening remarks, we have consulted the Information Commissioner’s office. The Land Registry has for many years held databases, including personal data, so the need to keep data secure is not a new obligation. All Land Registry information systems meet the international security management standard ISO 27001, with which I am sure we are all familiar. The systems are also subject to a comprehensive and robust auditing and monitoring regime. In particular, at least every six months, the Land Registry commissions independent penetration testing firms to test the security of its systems, including the latest hacker techniques. Any weakness is detected and dealt with in priority order. There is then a retesting to ensure that no residual weakness is present. These tests will also be applied to the electronic conveyancing network when it is established. On the very relevant question of data backup, all Land Registry data are continuously backed up, whereby three copies of all its data are held in mainframe computers on separate sites. In addition, a fourth copy is made once a day. Full backups of systems are kept on tape, and changes that occur during the day are logged. This ensures that the registry can continue to operate, even if one of its data centres is lost or unavailable. The Land Registry operates strict controls as to how changes to its IT infrastructure are managed, risk-assessed and tested prior to deployment. The network is a closed system. Access will be possible only for Land Registry employees and individuals, firms and organisations that have entered into a network access agreement. The term used for them in the draft rule is ““subscribers””. The full network access agreement used by conveyancing professionals provided to the subscriber may allow others and, broadly, their staff access to a set of services appropriate to their job function. Among other requirements, the details of those users have to be supplied to the registrar. They must be supervised by a qualified person and the subscriber and their staff are obliged to keep secure all their security measures, including their log-on names, passwords and so on. The full network access agreement provides for the subscriber to allow individual parties to a transaction, whose identification they will have checked, to access the network either by way of a read-only network access agreement or a signature network access agreement with the registrar. The Land Registry will issue the individual with user identification and passwords. There will be no anonymous access to the network. The client or borrower will have access only to information relating to the particular transaction with which they are involved. I accept that the noble Lord, Lord Thomas of Gresford, was concerned that, even if the security is okay, if the system goes down, the advantage of electronic conveyancing is lost. I agree with him. I am not going to make any foolish commitments; I have been for too long involved with and responsible for various IT projects to do that, but I am satisfied that the Land Registry, which is an efficient organisation, will do everything that it can to ensure that there are no crashes and that when there are, it will be up and running. However, from a security point of view—and one has to be careful about the guarantees that one can give—the Land Registry has gone through a full process which has been checked out with the office of the Information Commissioner, which has made it clear that it will continue to take a close interest and that the Land Registry can look to it for advice. There are two points in relation to the media. The register has been open to the media since December 1990. The noble Lord suggested a way in which a solicitor might allow a member of the media to gain access to inappropriate information. I will pray in aid my admiration for the integrity of the profession, whom I dearly love, and there are additional safeguards within the profession’s standards and all that goes with them. I understand the point raised about costs. The noble Lord, Lord Thomas of Gresford, referred to possible failures in the system which would lead to lawyers earning lots of fees. He will know from my current fascinating debates on legal aid that lawyers are looking for every sort of fee they can get, and no doubt they will take note of what he has said. I understand the point about costs, of course, but the system of land registration is extremely effective and I pay tribute to the work of the Land Registry. In 2007-08, 97.2 per cent of Land Registry customers rated the overall service they received as excellent, very good or good, which is a pretty good record. The electronic conveyancing programme is designed to improve the existing system further. It is far bigger than just an electronic form-filling activity, and over time it will bring benefits in terms of time and cost savings to businesses beyond those measured during the administrative burden exercise, and obviously the cost situation will be kept under close review. On the timetable, I have already alluded to the need for caution in introducing the system, which is only right. It has always been the view of the Government, the Land Registry and, indeed, the registry’s customers that this is a change that could not happen overnight and needs to be done in stages. As the noble Lord, Lord Thomas of Gresford, pointed out, the existing paper-based system has developed over very many years, if not centuries, and we would certainly be worried about a ““big bang”” approach and the potential harm that that could cause to the housing market. Therefore, it is being brought forward in stages. Towards the end of this year it will be possible to create electronic charges using the network and for parties to sign up to them using electronic signatures. In 2009-10, the ability to create electronic transfers will be added. This will normally involve two conveyancers, one for the seller and one for the buyer, and further transaction types will be added subsequently. I turn to mandatory matters. Section 93 of the Land Registration Act 2002 contains a provision for rules that would mandate the use of electronic dispositions. Such rules can be made only following consultation and would require the affirmative resolution of both Houses. However, at this stage I do not have any proposals to bring forward on that matter. The issue of DIY conveyances was raised in the other place when this order was debated. The Land Registration Act 2002 specifically recognises the interests of those who wish to do their own conveyancing. Paragraph 7 of Schedule 5 to the Act imposes on the chief land registrar, "““a duty to provide such assistance as he thinks appropriate for the purpose of enabling persons … who wish to do their own conveyancing to do so by means of the network””." It is the registrar’s intention to make such provision in due course, but this is an early stage and the system is being introduced incrementally. It will be some time before the full range of transactions can be carried out on the network. That is why current energies are better devoted to building the best basic system and then increasing the range of transactions, but I can assure noble Lords that we will not forget the importance of ensuring that this system becomes accessible to DIY conveyancers in the future.