Thank you for contacting me about the Land Registry.
As you may be aware, the Government is seeking up to a further £5 billion of corporate and financial asset sales by March 2020, building on successes in the last Parliament. We are currently spending on interest on Government debt nearly half what we spend every year on the NHS. To the extent that we can transfer certain non-core assets into the private sector and use the proceeds to reduce debt and complexity in Government I think that is a positive contribution to the national finances provided the quality of the service is maintained (the Land Registry is very well run).
Through the Spending Review up to £4.6 billion of assets have been identified and, subject to a value for money assessment, the Government will be consulting on options to move operations of the Land Registry to the private sector from 2017.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.
