Registers of Scotland (RoS) celebrated an historic year in land registration in 2017-18, and launched ground-breaking services that are changing the way that we serve the people of Scotland.
Our Digital Discharge Service (DDS), ScotLIS – Scotland’s land information system – and a new improved application form, were just some of the innovations that we introduced in the same year we celebrated the 400th anniversary of the General Register of Sasines.
Commenting on the publication of RoS’ 2017-18 Annual Report and Accounts, Janet Egdell, RoS’ Operations Director and Accountable Officer, said:
“Our annual report reflects the breadth of the work that was undertaken by RoS in the last financial year. We are really pleased to have reached more customers and in new ways.
“We celebrated the rich history of the sasine register, officially cut the ribbon on our state of the art new working environment at St Vincent Plaza in Glasgow, and launched two major digital services that will make transactions faster and more certain for customers, and will improve transparency about land and property ownership in Scotland.
“The ongoing development of these, and other services demonstrates that we are maintaining the momentum towards becoming a fully digital business by 2020.”
In addition to developing new products and services, we despatched 91 per cent of work within 20 working days and we are focusing on ways to improve on the areas where we were unable to meet our service standards, through new technology and revising our internal processes.
You can read and download the full report.
ENDS
Notes to editors
- For further information, please telephone Jacq Kelly on 0131 528 3738, email communications@ros.gov.uk, or contact us at: Communications, Registers of Scotland, Meadowbank House, 153 London Road, Edinburgh, EH8 7AU.
- Registers of Scotland (RoS) is the government department responsible for compiling and maintaining registers relating to property and other legal documents in Scotland. RoS records and safeguards the rights of the individual while providing open access to information on the registers.
- Income in 2017-18 was £72.6 million, the same level as the previous year, whilst expenditure increased from £73.3 million to £88.1 million. This increase in expenditure was partly due to the increase in staff and contractor costs to invest in both land register completion and digital transformation. It also includes £6.1 million for a voluntary exit scheme, as we will need fewer people and different skills in the future.
- We have a target to register all land on the Land Register by 2024. As at end March 2018, we had registered 65 per cent of land and property titles, which amounts to around 31.7 per cent of land mass coverage or 2,540,618 hectares.
- By the end of 2017 we had processed around 13,000 applications via the Digital Discharge Service (DDS), which accounts for a quarter of applications. During this period DDS featured a 99.79% acceptance rate, with all applications that were rejected returned only because they were duplications of successful ones.
- Since going live in October 2017, over 27,000 users have accessed the new public ScotLIS service. We have continued to develop ScotLIS, widening digital access, and we have worked closely with stakeholders, partners, and customers in order to improve usability.
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