§ Not amended (in the Standing Committee), considered.
§ Order for Third Reading read.
9.35 am§ Mr. Michael J. Martin (Glasgow, Springburn)I beg to move, That the Bill be now read the Third time.
I am most grateful to hon. Members for their support for this Bill. As my hon. Friends recognised in the debate in Committee on 4 February 1987, this is a modest three-clause Bill which will aid house buyers in Scotland. The sasines register will remain unaltered in its content and availability to the public. However, the Bill will allow the methods of registration to be improved. It will achieve this by removing the present legislative barriers to the use of modern technology and by allowing the Secretary of State to make regulations in respect of methods of operation. In other words, records of deeds may be held in microfiche, or by any other new technological method, rather than in the bound volumes containing copies of the deeds required under present legislation.
That will benefit home buyers in Scotland in two ways. The Department of Registers of Scotland which prepares the sasines register will be able to use released staffing resources to speed up registration processes. However, the main initial advantage will be in providing searchers with several microfiche copies so that they do not have to wait until the bound volume is free.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland (Mr. John MacKay)I record our thanks to the hon. Member for Glasgow, Springburn (Mr. Martin) for sponsoring this legislative measure.
The Bill is not controversial. It will allow welcome improvements to be made in the registration and storage processes of the sasines register in the light of modern technology. I am pleased to say there will be benefits—as the hon. Gentleman has stated—for the public, the Department of Registers of Scotland and the Scottish Record Office which produce and manage the register.
§ Question put and agreed to.
§ Bill accordingly read the Third time, and passed.