2018 to 2019 work programme

Bring together housing and planning statistics into a single location

Initiative

Develop a summary guide for users showing availability of data by producing body.

Target date

July 2018

Lead

Debra Prestwood and Chris Jenkins, Office for National Statistics

Progress

Complete. An experimental overview guide linking to existing datasets for the policy departments and ONS was published on 10 August 2018. Next steps are to make the guide more interactive and progress can be tracked in the 2019 to 2020 work programme.

Explore transformation of data into open data formats

Initiative

Building upon open data initiatives in the four countries, consider how to improve user accessibility to data given the multi-producing bodies, including collaboration with external partners and in-house strategic solutions.

Target date

Throughout 2019

Lead

Debra Prestwood, Office for National Statistics

Progress

Work ongoing. It was agreed in September 2018 to pilot dwelling stock by tenure data for the four nations on the “GSS Data Project” which is prototyping producing a data repository for linked data across government producers of statistics. Progress can be tracked in the 2019 to 2020 work programme.

User research on England housing and planning statistics

Initiative

Review England housing and planning statistical releases to align with user interest as opposed to data collection streams, starting with social housing statistics.

Target date

Throughout 2019

Lead

Daniel Shaw, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Progress

Work ongoing. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has published a number of updated and improved housing and planning statistical bulletins with additional contextual information included. Related releases such as social lettings and social housing sales were published on the same day. In January 2019, MHCLG published a “call for user views” on possible changes to social housing and intend to consult more formally on final proposals in summer 2019. Progress can be tracked in the 2019 to 2020 work programme.

Developing a housing stock analytical resource for Wales

Initiative

Take forward work on developing a housing stock analytical resource for Wales, bringing together a range of data on the condition and energy efficiency of housing stock.

Target date

Throughout 2019

Lead

Sue Leake, Welsh Government

Progress

Work ongoing. A progress report was published in September 2018. We are working with the newly established Administrative Data Research Unit – Wales to seek access to further relevant administrative data. Progress can be tracked in the 2019 to 2020 work programme.

Identify topic areas to prioritise for coherence work

Initiative

Prioritise topics on which to provide insight across the four countries of the UK, using existing data, starting with the private rented sector (PRS).

Target date

July 2018

Lead

Tony Wilkins, Office for National Statistics

Progress

Initial prioritisation is complete. Following on from the PRS, affordable housing and homelessness have been identified as the next topics. Progress in these topic areas can be tracked in the 2019 to 2020 work programme.

Publish a UK article on the private rented sector

Initiative

Publish a UK article on the private rented sector, bringing together existing data sources to assess comparability, coherence, and assess any data limitations.

Target date

Late 2018

Lead

Chris Jenkins, Office for National Statistics

Progress

Complete. The Office for National Statistics published the UK private rented sector article on 18 January 2019.

Develop a conceptual framework for UK housing and planning statistics

Initiative

Develop a conceptual framework across the UK for housing and planning statistics to illustrate how we are measuring the housing and planning landscape, and assist in identification of priority topics for further improvement.

Target date

September 2018

Lead

Tony Wilkins, Office for National Statistics

Progress

First iteration complete. Further work ongoing. An experimental framework was published in September 2018. We are undertaking discussions with policy officials and wider users to inform the next iteration of the framework. Progress can be tracked in the 2019 to 2020 work programme.

Develop UK harmonisation work programme

Initiative

Produce a work programme for developing harmonised UK definitions across the four countries, where feasible, or promoting transparency where definitions are based on devolved legislation.

Target date

Throughout 2019

Lead

Sean Mattson, Office for National Statistics

Progress

Work ongoing. High level deliverables have been incorporated into the 2019 to 2020 work programme.

Conduct harmonisation feasibility study of homelessness

Initiative

Conduct feasibility work and aim to develop a UK understanding of homelessness definitions as a first priority.

Target date

November 2018

Lead

Sean Mattson, Office for National Statistics

Progress

Complete. A feasibility report into the harmonisation of definitions of homelessness in UK official statistics was published in February 2019. Work continues to produce a conceptual framework for UK homelessness statistics to explain the comparability in a user-friendly format. Progress can be tracked in the 2019 to 2020 work programme.

Improve coherence of England’s house-building statistics

Initiative

Produce initial plan to improve coherence between quarterly and annual estimates for house-building statistics for England.

Target date

June 2018

Lead

Daniel Shaw, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Progress

Complete. MHCLG published the Improving the measurement of new homes built action plan on 28 June 2018.

Assess options for improving Welsh house-building statistics

Initiative

Assess options for improving the coverage and quality of new house building statistics for Wales

Target date

Ongoing

Lead

Sue Leake, Welsh Government

Progress

Work ongoing. Discussions with building control specialists, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and policy colleagues are ongoing. Progress can be tracked in the 2019 to 2020 work programme.

Improve the measurement of homelessness and rough sleepers

Initiative

Improve the measurement of homelessness and rough sleepers, taking into account the country specific requirements relating to legislation and policy.

Target date

To required timescales

Lead

Ruth Davies, Office for National Statistics; Ricky Taylor, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG); Sue Leake, Welsh Government; James Sampson, Department for Communities Northern Ireland (DfC NI); Adam Krawczyk, Scottish Government

Progress

Work ongoing. Progress can be tracked in the 2019 to 2020 work programme. For England, first homelessness estimates based on Homelessness case level collections (H-CLIC) data were released on 13 December 2018 by MHCLG. For Wales, a feasibility study into introduction of individual case level homelessness data collection is ongoing. For DfC NI, working alongside Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) to produce a standalone biannual homelessness statistics publication. A prototype is currently being worked on. The Scottish Government already collects individual case level data on homelessness, use of temporary accommodation and preventative housing options activity, with summary statistics and analysis published on a biannual basis. Options on improving the measurement of rough sleepers are being considered by the Centre for Homelessness Impact (CHI), in liaison with the Scottish Government.

Plan next priorities for quality improvement

Initiative

Plan next priorities for quality improvement or to fill gaps in user need, taking a topic based approach.

Target date

September 2018

Lead

Debra Prestwood, Office for National Statistics

Progress

Complete. Homelessness and affordable housing have been identified as next topics. Research has started and articles will be planned for release. Priorities will continue to evolve as cross-UK user engagement develops. Progress can be tracked in the 2019 to 2020 work programme.

New methodology for household projections for England

Initiative

Implement new methodology for household projections for England.

Target date

September 2018

Lead

Richard Pereira, Office for National Statistics

Progress

Complete. Statistics based on the new methodology were published 20 September 2018. A blog on National Statistical was published 19 October 2018 giving more explanation of the publication.

Publish Welsh housing conditions data

Initiative

Publish first housing conditions data for Wales since 2008.

Target date

November 2018

Lead

Sue Leake, Welsh Government

Progress

Complete. The headline report on Welsh Housing Conditions Survey was published on 6 December 2018 . Further topic reports to continue throughout 2019, see the Welsh Housing Conditions Survey publication plan.

Check consistency of Northern Ireland housing stock statistics

Initiative

Scope the potential to create a comprehensive and consistent profile of Northern Ireland housing stock.

Target date

November 2018

Lead

James Sampson, Department for Communities Northern Ireland

Progress

Complete. Scoping exercises to identify “viable” housing stock have shown little difference to published housing stock figures.

Improve English dwelling stock by tenure statistics

Initiative

Implement initial improvements to dwelling stock by tenure statistics for England and sub-national housing affordability statistics for England and Wales.

Target date

March 2019

Lead

Nigel Henretty, Office for National Statistics

Progress

Complete. The Tenancy Deposit Protection schemes research article was published on 01 March 2019.

Create additional UK sub-national housing analyses

Initiative

Create relevant UK sub-national housing analyses in areas with limited official statistics, such as: landlords, mortgages and communal establishments.

Target date

Throughout 2019

Lead

Nigel Henretty, Office for National Statistics

Progress

Work ongoing. Initial analysis of first-time buyer housing affordability was published July 2018, using new mortgages data. Work has started using a linked address and property transactions dataset from Ordnance Survey to assess the feasibility of improving the statistics on transaction of newly built dwellings. Progress can be tracked in the 2019 to 2020 work programme.

Create a user engagement model

Initiative

Consider the optimal user engagement model with government and non-government users across the four countries of the UK to feed into continuing review of priorities.

Target date

September 2018

Lead

Debra Prestwood, Office for National Statistics

Progress

Complete. A cross-UK engagement model was agreed by the Cross-Government Housing Steering Group in Autumn 2018. Existing country events will incorporate sessions on cross-UK coherence. The first of these was the Wales Housing Information Group seminar on 24 January 2019 and a cross-UK event in London was held on 14 February 2019. Progress can be tracked in the 2019 to 2020 work programme.