Speculation is growing about an imminent announcement on the future of Ordnance Survey and the Land Registry of England and Wales under the plan to create a "public data corporation".

The idea, which as UK Authority reported, featured in the Cabinet Office's business plan published earlier this month, would create a single body in charge of "public task" raw government data available free for re-use. Under the scheme, the "value added" operations of bodies such as Ordnance Survey would be privatised.

Sky News reported last night that among the options under consideration would be a full-blown merger of major state-owned information owners such as the Met Office and the Land Registry. Part of the resulting corporation could then be sold off to raise money for the Treasury, assuming there was an investment proposition that would be attractive to the private sector.

The report quoted a Cabinet Office spokesman as saying: "It is not yet finalised what form this corporation will take and what information will be part of it. We intend to make as much data as possible free but we are working with departments to agree the details, mindful that we need to minimise the direct impact on the Exchequer. We expect to be able to announce details in due course, in time to meet the April 2011 deadline specified in the Business Plan."

If the plan does go ahead, it would be following the most radical option proposed under the last government's consultation. Policy options for geographic information from Ordnance Survey, published last year. The document's "option 2" proposal involved relasing constraints on the re-use of almost all data and creating a separate privatised business to develop and distribute products. It said this option would be "very disruptive in the short term" and require "significant" funding from government.