Scottish Government

This following section is an extract from the Land Reform Consultation.

"Clear and up-to-date information about land, its value and ownership provides a good basis for open and transparent decision making - for both the private and public sectors.

Understanding the impact of public policies on land ownership, transactions in land and land values also helps Government design systems that help promote desired outcomes for planning, housing, agricultural and general land use policies.

At present there is a wide range of information on land ownership and land values held across the public sector.  Examples of the wide range of organisations who hold this sort of information include the Registers of Scotland, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Scottish Assessors and Local Authorities as well as core Scottish Government and numerous other bodies.

Bringing this information together will provide further benefits.  While there will be start-up costs, it should allow Government to realise longer term efficiency savings, such as through reduction of duplication data collections.  There will also be efficiencies for end users of the information by ensuring that the can quickly locate the accurate information they require, rather than searching across numerous different sources.

A central repository may also bring the ability to react quickly to changes in demands from users around, for example, the range of available formats for information.  Flexible provision of this sort of information should also allow the property market to develop in a more efficient and intelligent way and help reduce transaction costs for business.

Scotland’s Digital Future: Delivery of Public Services[1] is a strategy that sets a number of objectives for the effective use and management of public sector data, both to improve service delivery and to promote economic growth.  To ensure a cohesive approach is taken across Scotland, the cross sector Data Management Board (DMB) was established (June 2013).

The DMB has published A Data Vision for Scotland[2] and associated Strategic Action Plan[3] to provide guidance and leadership so that the effective use of data is engrained in all of our public services.  The DMB is also looking to publish an open data strategy, which will open up non-personal public services data for re-use by the end of this year.

We are currently working to develop a better understanding of the variety of information sources available across the whole of the public sector and how best information, held by the public sector, can be made readily available and accessible for re-use.

As part of this process, we will consider whether any changes to legislation are required.  Any proposals taken forward would have to be considered carefully to ensure sufficient safeguards are in place to protect personal and commercially sensitive information.