HM Government

The Environment Secretary Michael Gove will today hail the UK’s forward-thinking food sector for driving innovation and productivity as we prepare to leave the EU.

Ahead of a visit to the Bournville chocolate factory today (Friday 27 October), which recently used a £75 million investment to launch four new production lines and employ thousands more staff, the Environment Secretary praised food producers across the country for creating thousands of new products every year – from craft beers, to chocolate, to healthy snacks.

At the Birmingham based factory, the Environment Secretary will see first-hand how even our most recognisable products are continuing to find new ways to push the boundaries – from new technologies to prolong shelf life to ‘free-from’ ranges that tap into consumer demand. The newest line at Bournville can now produce one million bars of Dairy Milk per day.

During a tour of Bournville’s newest production lines which can make a million bars of Dairy Milk every day, the Environment Secretary will see the company’s new innovation kitchen, where the next generation of Bournville products are dreamt up.

Environment Secretary Michael Gove said:

As we leave the EU, we have a great opportunity to make sure our food and farming industry is leading the way in modern, creative thinking.

An innovative industry is a resilient one, and by investing in new technologies and ideas we can make sure we continue to thrive on the global trading stage and build on our renowned reputation as a great food nation.

Last year Defra launched the first ever Food Innovation Network to connect food producers across the country with world-class facilities such as test-kitchens and laboratories to help them create new products and production methods.

The government has also invested £160 million through the Agri-Tech Strategy to improve the flow of ideas and solutions from the laboratory to the farm, as well as £90m to support the creation of four Centres of Agricultural Innovation. These centres will help turn agricultural innovation into commercial opportunities, stimulating inward investment and helping revolutionise future farming practices.

Each year the food chain brings more than £110 billion to the UK economy, with exports hitting a record £20 billion for the first time last year. More than £620 million worth of chocolate was exported around the world, with shipments going as far afield as Australia and the US.

This month’s Price Paid Data includes details of more than 97,000 sales of land and property in England and Wales that HM Land Registry received for registration in September 2017.

In the dataset you can find the date of sale for each property, its full address and sale price, its category (residential or commercial) and type (detached, semi-detached, terraced, flat or maisonette and other), whether it is new build or not and whether it is freehold or leasehold.

The number of sales received for registration by property type and month

Of the 97,102 sales received for registration in September 2017:

• 72,519 were freehold, a 3.2% increase on September 2016

• 9,013 were newly built, a 21.6% decrease on September 2016

There is a time difference between the sale of a property and its registration at HM Land Registry.

Of the 97,102 sales received for registration, 27,553 took place in September 2017 of which:

• 568 were of residential properties in England and Wales for £1 million and over

• 320 were of residential properties in London for £1 million and over

• one was of a residential property in Birmingham for £1 million and over

• three were of residential properties in Greater Manchester for £1 million and over

• none were of residential properties in Cardiff for £1 million and over

The most expensive residential sale taking place in September 2017 was of a flat in the City of Westminster, London for £15,200,000. The cheapest residential sale in September 2017 was of a semi-detached property in Birmingham, West Midlands for £17,500.

The most expensive commercial sale taking place in September 2017 was in Wakefield, West Yorkshire for £39,477,000. The cheapest commercial sales in September 2017 were in the London boroughs of Harrow and Southwark, each for £100.

Access the full dataset

Notes to editors

1. Price Paid Data is published at 11 am on the 20th working day of each month. The next dataset will be published on 28 November 2017.

2. Price Paid Data is property price data for all residential and commercial property sales in England and Wales that are lodged with HM Land Registry for registration in that month, subject to exclusions.

3. The amount of time between the sale of a property and the registration of this information with HM Land Registry varies. It typically ranges between 2 weeks and 2 months. Data for the two most recent months is therefore incomplete and does not give an indication of final monthly volumes. Occasionally the interval between sale and registration is longer than two months. The small number of sales affected cannot be updated for publication until the sales are lodged for registration.

4. Price Paid Data categories are either Category A (Standard entries), which includes single residential properties sold for full market value or Category B (Additional entries), such as sales to a company, buy-to-lets where they can be identified by a mortgage and repossessions.

5. HM Land Registry has been collecting information on Category A sales from January 1995 and on Category B sales from October 2013.

6. Price Paid Data can be downloaded in txt format, csv format and in a machine-readable format as linked data and is released under the Open Government Licence (OGL). Under the OGL, HM Land Registry permits the use of Price Paid Data for commercial or non-commercial purposes. However, the OGL does not cover the use of third party rights, which HM Land Registry is not authorised to license.

7. The Price Paid Data report builder allows users to build bespoke reports using the data. Reports can be based on location, estate type, price paid or property type over a defined period of time.

8. HM Land Registry is a government department created in 1862. It operates as an executive agency and a trading fund and its running costs are covered by the fees paid by the users of its services. Its ambition is to become the world’s leading land registry for speed, simplicity and an open approach to data.

9. HM Land Registry safeguards land and property ownership worth more than £4 trillion, including more than £1 trillion of mortgages. The Land Register contains more than 25 million titles, which show evidence of ownership, covering more than 84% of the land mass.

10. For further information about HM Land Registry visit www.gov.uk/land-registry.

11. Follow us on Twitter @HMLandRegistry, our blog, LinkedIn and Facebook

We are currently experiencing technical problems with the Insolvency Enquiry Line and the problem is being investigated as a priority. You can use our contact form if you need assistance. We will update this message when the Enquiry Line is operationa… read more

Sir Bert Massie CBE was a powerful campaigner for the rights of disabled people for more than 4 decades. He was instrumental in persuading ministers to set up the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC) over 30 years ago and in making it a statutory body in the 1985 Transport Act. As a founder member of DPTAC Bert served on the Committee for 16 years and was a key driving force in building up the Committee from scratch.

He played a crucial role in ensuring that parliament passed the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA). In the lobbying work that led to the DDA he worked with the department and the transport industries to develop and set standards for accessibility, and secured the access regulations formula which is the basis of the current provision of accessible public transport.

It’s rare to be able to say of somebody that they changed people’s lives, but Bert did exactly that, as a highly effective lobbyist and campaigner, and in taking full advantage of the unique role DPTAC plays in giving expert, evidence-based advice to government.

Bert’s legacy is tangible. And those who knew Bert will know that he always worked with a real sense of purpose, a focus on outcomes that would improve the lives of disabled people, and always with an underlying sense of fun.

He was a great champion for disabled people and will be incredibly missed. All of us on DPTAC are acutely aware that we are standing on Bert’s shoulders and are grateful that DPTAC has such strong foundations to build on. It is very sad to think that Bert is no longer with us.

Transport Minister Paul Maynard said:

Sir Bert was a tremendous supporter of accessibility in transport and leaves behind a proud legacy.

From the role he played in convincing the government to form DPTAC to his work on the committee over a 16 year period, he was a leading campaigner.

This government will strive to continue Sir Bert’s great work in this area.

Planned improvement work set to benefit over 3,000 additional properties in the area.