§ Mrs. Margaret EwingTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether following the conversion of the Registers of Scotland to agency status, he intends to(a) 681W increase the levels of recording dues and registration dues and (b) introduce charges for provision of any services which are at present provided free of charge.
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonI refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave her on 11 June. The fees order referred to there makes relatively minor adjustments to the main fee scales, leaving most recording dues and registration dues unchanged. Some new fees are to be introduced so that increasingly each service is paid for by its users. The fees order will increase income so that extra staff can be recruited to provide a better service.
A full-scale review of fees is to take place this year as provided for in the framework document for the Department of the Registers of Scotland, which was published on 6 April when the department became an agency.