Register of Persons Holding a Controlled Interest in Land: EQIA

Stage 4: Decision making and monitoring

Identifying and establishing any required mitigating action

Have positive or negative impacts been identified for any of the equality groups?

Yes

Is the policy directly or indirectly discriminatory under the Equality Act 2010^[6]?

No

If the policy is indirectly discriminatory, how is it justified under the relevant legislation?

Not applicable

If not justified, what mitigating action will be undertaken?

Not applicable

Describing how Equality Impact analysis has shaped the policy making process

The equality impact analysis has not had a wide-ranging impact on the development of the policy, as many of the issues highlighted by the analysis were already addressed in the policy. The EQIA has, however, led to changes to the scope of the requirement to register in order to mitigate the impact of registration on some large religious bodies. The following provisions have been added:

• The exemption of bodies that exert influence through a function conferred by an enactment
• Where bodies are both trusts and unincorporated associations, allowing them to register following only the provisions for an unincorporated association
• Where individuals are both recorded persons and associates for the same piece of land, exempting them for registering as both to avoid unnecessary duplication

These provisions would reduce the number of associates some large religious bodies would be required to register, reducing the burden on them while still maintaining the policy aims and not introducing discriminatory exceptions.

The impact analysis identified the need for Registers of Scotland to explore options relating to the delivery of the register. They will subsequently investigate whether the Land Register's policy for when transgender individuals change their name could be applied to the Register of Persons Holding a Controlled Interest in Land. The register will be free to access, search and register on digitally, and Registers of Scotland and Scottish Government will identify a process for an assisted digital service for users who are unable to do so digitally. Registers of Scotland will explore the provision of an enhanced searching service whereby Registers of Scotland staff will carry out a search of the register on request. Depending on the offering of this service Registers of Scotland may consider if a fee would be charged. They also have a process for individuals to seek support from their customer service centre through translation services.

Some of the mitigating actions to be taken or explored will have cost implications for Registers of Scotland, who will develop and manage the system. If the cost of translation services used through their customer service centre and searches or registration support for those who are having issues accessing the system are not passed on to the customer, then these costs will need to be absorbed by Registers of Scotland. As the register is going to be free to use digitally, it will not create revenue to cover these additional potential costs.

As the policy is primarily concerned with the transparency of land it will benefit all communities by empowering them to identify and engage with those make decisions about land in their area. Communities in a geographical area are likely to include individuals with a variety of protected characteristics. Consequently the policy is unlikely to directly benefit a community of individuals sharing a particular protected characteristic, but rather benefit individuals with protected characteristics within a geographical community.

Monitoring and Review

Registers of Scotland will own and host the register created by this policy and so will be responsible for monitoring its usage and evaluating the system. They currently use Google Analytics to identify usage such as user drop off on specific screens, user journey time and the amount of time a user takes to complete a process such as registering on the system. The data Google Analytics provides can give insights into user behaviour and system performance which can be used to make the system more user friendly. It is likely Google Analytics will be used, with other recognised monitoring tools to understand user behaviour with a view to constantly improving the service. It is also extremely likely that there will be a facility to feedback via the service itself any issues or improvements users identify which would then be considered by the development team. Calls received by the Register of Scotland customer service centre on service improvement would be raised with the development team. They also actively seek feedback from users to improve their services and ensure they are meeting customer needs. As these monitoring processes apply to all users, they will help to monitor the equality issues raised in the impact assessment. For example, data regarding user behaviour, calls about accessibility issues and feedback can be used to identify if the system is not accessible for some users with a disability and if this can be addressed.

The volume of registrations following the initial registration period will be monitored and reviewed on a regular basis to assess the success of the register in capturing controlling interests. The registration data can also be used to identify if certain categories of land ownership are not as commonly registered as would be expected, as this could indicate a lack of awareness of the responsibilities to register.