Derek McDowell (Labour)

I am informed that England and Wales have moved towards a period of seven years. However, this may be a long-term objective. This issue concerns resources and practicality. There is, as the new set of amendments provide, an imperative on the committee to examine the resources available to the authority and to look to the broader interest of encouraging registration. It would make no sense to clutter up title with shorter leases of two or three years. Such an arrangement would make life very complicated. We might reach a point in the future where all this can be handled electronically. The committee will progress by degrees towards the kind of figures achieved in the UK.