Housing and planning statistics: 2022 to 2023 work programme

Government Statistical Service (GSS) engagement activities

Initiative

The GSS has an ongoing commitment to engage with users to enhance the value of housing and homelessness statistics and help shape GSS priorities. We will continue to work together to review the demand for comparable data across the UK through consultation with government policy analysts and non-government users. Engagement activities will be tailored for each country.

Target date

Ongoing

Lead

Government Statistical Service

Progress

We published a user engagement statement which sets out how we will engage with our users and provides a reference point for statistical producers to help shape their own user engagement work.

We follow best practice and consult on user engagement activities in accordance with the GSS user engagement strategy for statistics.

The GSS will continue to collaborate on user engagement activities, creating events or joining up across the GSS on existing events to understand priorities, including for comparable data across the UK, or increased transparency on country differences.

Events have been held across all four UK countries on a range of topics which have helped shape our priorities and direction of travel. These have included:

• Members of the GSS working on planning statistics have conducted a user engagement mapping exercise with a view to conducting stakeholder discussions throughout 2022 and 2023.
• Welsh Government continue to run their Housing Information Group meetings, bringing together Welsh Government, local authorities, housing associations and participating agencies to share views about housing. The latest Housing Information Group was held in September 2022, for which papers are available at Housing Information Group: 28 September 2022. In addition, plans for the introduction of a new national indicator on housing affordability were shared with interested housing stakeholders in July 2022 for comment.
• NISRA continue to engage with the Northern Ireland Housing Executive and the Department for Communities on their data needs to shape any future outputs on homeless deaths. Department for Communities (NI) has overarching policy responsibility for housing issues in Northern Ireland. Additionally, the Vital Statistics Unit in NISRA have annual meetings with their user group and plan to raise homeless deaths as a discussion point at the next meeting (November 2022).
• Department for Communities (NI) issued a user engagement survey on a review of their Housing Statistics publications. The survey ran from 21 July 2022 to 9 September 2022; more information is available at Department for Communities Housing publication review survey.
• The CORE (Continuous Recording of Lettings and Sales in social housing in England) social housing statistics team at DLUHC have been conducting extensive user engagement on the replacement of their CORE data collection system. They have engaged with data providers and key users of their statistics through qualitative workshops and surveys to help understand their needs. They are now in the ‘private beta’ phase where a handful of volunteer early adopters are using the new system ‘in real life’ and providing feedback.

Review of housing statistics publications

Initiative

Department for Communities will conduct a customer survey and user engagement events to feed into the future content of National Statistics annual compendium reports. The preferred term for National Statistics is now ‘accredited official statistics’.

Target date

March 2023

Lead

Lesley Curry (Department for Communities, Northern Ireland)

Progress

In progress

The Department for Communities Northern Ireland launched a Housing Statistics Publication Review Survey which ran from 21 July until 9 September 2022. The survey looked at three publications produced by the Department for Communities (the quarterly Northern Ireland Housing Bulletin, the annual Northern Ireland Housing Statistics Report and the biannual Northern Ireland Homelessness Bulletin) to better understand how the statistics are being used and whether there are any improvements that can be implemented to better meet user need. Feedback from the survey will be implemented into the quarterly Northern Ireland Housing Bulletin from November 2022 onwards, with further changes expected to the annual Northern Ireland Housing Statistics Report in 2023.

Stakeholder management plan for the use of council tax statistics

Initiative

In the Valuation Office Agency, we are committed to publishing statistics that are in line with best practice across government. We are also mindful that our statistics are part of a wider picture of statistics on property that other parts of government produce too, so we will also be looking to work collaboratively with other government departments to ensure that what we do has a consistent fit with what they publish.

Target date

Until March 2023

Lead

Claire Lyall (Valuation Office Agency)

Develop the Homelessness Strategy

Initiative

Consultation with users to understand options for improved data collection and analysis has fed into the NIHE Ending Homelessness Together Strategy.

Target date

Complete

Lead

Northern Ireland Housing Executive

Progress

On 23 March 2022, the Housing Executive published ‘Ending Homelessness Together, Homelessness Strategy 2022 to 2027’. The vision of ‘Ending Homelessness Together’ reflects a continued need for the Housing Executive to work with our partners across the sector to address the varied and complex factors that lead to homelessness, many of which extend beyond the provision of accommodation.

Exploring the user need for coherent data

Initiative

Explored the challenges, opportunities and impacts that government and non-government data users experience when bringing together data from different data producers, or across subnational and national boundaries.

Target date

Autumn 2022

Lead

Michelle Waters (GSS Housing and Homelessness Coherence, Office for National Statistics)

Progress

Qualitative research exploring the user need for statistically coherent data. A blog, short report and follow-up survey has been published and will be shared across coherence networks (including GSS Housing and Homelessness working groups).

Consult stakeholders about Scottish Government Planning Performance Statistics and Scottish Vacant and Derelict Land Survey

Initiative

Two methods will be used (including face-to-face) at stakeholder working group meetings and with policy stakeholders for each survey and a short online consultation for each survey. Face-to-face consultation is important to try to improve response rates which tend to be low when using online surveys alone. The consultation will be kept short and very focused in order to ensure that we have the resource and capacity in the team to action the findings and to minimise any burden on stakeholders, many of whom are still impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. We will publish the findings on our planning statistics webpage.

Target date

End of 2023

Lead

Charles Brown (Scottish Government)

Progress

Consultation questions have been drafted. We have shared these with the GSS Planning Statistics SubGroup.

Coherence report on energy efficiency data across the UK

Initiative

Publish a coherence article bringing together energy efficiency data and statistics from across the UK.

Target date

February to March 2023

Lead

Matthew Morrison (GSS Housing and Homelessness Coherence, Office for National Statistics)

Progress

The article is planned for publication in February to March 2023.

This coherence product is in progress, with its draft content being informed and approved by energy efficiency experts across the GSS. The content covers EPCs administrative data as well as the various national housing or house condition(s) survey data, from across the UK.

Review the coherence of homeless deaths’ publications

Initiative

Review the coherence of deaths in homelessness publications from across the UK and publish supporting information for data users.

Target date

Autumn 2022

Lead

Matthew Morrison (GSS Housing and Homelessness Coherence, Office for National Statistics)

Progress

The producers of homeless deaths statistics across the UK countries are meeting regularly to share updates, learn from each other’s methods, and ensure that any differences are effectively communicated to data users. A blog was published in November 2022 discussing the comparability of the cross-UK publications, communicating key developments, and coinciding with the latest NRS and ONS homeless deaths bulletins. Each of the 2022 releases references the statistical outputs of the other producers.

Develop the SHARE framework

Initiative

Develop the Centre for Homelessness Impact (CHI) SHARE framework in line with user needs.

Target date

Complete

Lead

Sarah Argodale (Centre for Homelessness Impact) and Michelle Waters (GSS Housing and Homelessness Coherence, Office for National Statistics)

Progress

The plan for 2021 to 2022 focused on filling different data gaps in the SHARE framework and including local authority level data for all indicators in the Vision section of the framework.

Update the design of the SHARE platform

Initiative

With a focus on data users’ needs, CHI will redesign the SHARE platform. CHI will work closely with the GSS and other data users to ensure homelessness data is easy to navigate and provides the most relevant data to users.

Target date

April 2024

Lead

Sarah Argodale (Centre for Homelessness Impact) and Michelle Waters (GSS Housing and Homelessness Coherence, Office for National Statistics)

Progress

CHI has engaged with an ONS data visualisation expert to understand best practice.  Learning will be implemented from this before further sharing with GSS and wider data users.

Improving measures of housing affordability statistics

Initiative

Publish additional measures of housing affordability including a wider variety of potential housing affordability situations, including upfront costs, mortgage repayments, and private rental affordability.

Target date

Ongoing

Lead

Tony Wilkins (Housing Analysis, Office for National Statistics)

Progress

Following on from the alternative measures of housing affordability research output published in March 2020, we will continue to develop and publish the additional measures as regular statistics. ONS working with Government Departments and Devolved Administrations have made good progress, publishing new measures of Private Rental Affordability (England) and Housing Purchase Affordability (GB).

Publish UK coherence articles based on user need

Initiative

Articles will bring together existing data sources to present comparability, coherence, and assess any data limitations.

Target date

March 2023

Lead

Michelle Waters (GSS Housing and Homelessness Coherence, Office for National Statistics)

Progress

The GSS Housing Statistics Steering Group continues to provide a strategic oversight on the priorities of housing and homelessness coherence articles and initiatives. For 2022 to 2023, priorities have been identified as the energy efficiency of housing, and fuel poverty. Work is progressing, with plans to publish in Q1 2023.

Improve data on affordable housing supply in England

Initiative

This long-term project will improve the coherence of statistics on additions to and losses from the affordable housing for rent sector.

Target date

2023

Lead

Richard Field (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)

Progress

Ongoing

In April 2021, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities started collecting local authority data which are intended to improve estimates of the net supply of affordable housing for rent in England. The 2020 to 2021 edition of Social Housing Sales in England included figures and commentary based on the improved data collected, moving closer to a net picture of the supply of affordable housing for rent. We aim to improve the figures further in future statistical releases, providing more detail subject to the quality and completeness of data collected from local authority and private registered providers of affordable housing for rent.

Insights on energy efficiency of housing

Initiative

We are planning to work across government, including using the new Integrated Data Service (IDS) Private Beta, to analyse and publish statistics and research related to housing and energy. We will start with detailed investigation into the energy efficiency of housing at a subnational level, using Energy Performance Certificates and Property Attributes data.

Target date

In progress

Lead

Tony Wilkins (Housing Analysis, Office for National Statistics) and Claire Lyall (Valuation Office Agency)

Progress

The project has been chosen as one of the initial pilot projects for the Private Beta of the IDS. The first publication of Phase 1 was published on 10 November 2021; an update was published on 25 October 2022.

Homeless deaths statistics in Northern Ireland

Initiative

Develop and publish homeless deaths statistics for Northern Ireland based on death registrations.

Target date

Late 2023

Lead

Carly Gordon (Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency)

Progress

In response to an identified data gap in relation to homeless deaths in Northern Ireland, NISRA’s Vital Statistics Unit is working with the Department for Communities and the Northern Ireland Housing Executive in order to investigate the feasibility of producing a new Northern Ireland output on homeless deaths that will allow comparisons with data published by ONS (for England & Wales) and NRS (for Scotland). NISRA hope to have a first release of homeless deaths statistics (based on death registrations) ready to coincide with the ONS and NRS releases in 2023. The base methodology will follow that of the other countries, in performing searches in the death registrations data before applying a statistical technique known as capture-recapture modelling.

Transformation of UK private rental prices statistics

Initiative

We are undertaking a transformation of our private rental prices statistics, including making better use of existing data sources, improving methods, and developing systems. We currently produce the Index of Private Housing Rental Prices (IPHRP) and the Private Rental Market Statistics (PRMS); however, in the future we envisage our rental price statistics to be a new, single, monthly publication that provides a more detailed insight into the rental market.

Target date

April 2024

Lead

Natalie Jones (Housing Market Indices Transformation, Office for National Statistics)

Progress

We are continuing to work through our build phase of our production system. We will begin our user consultation period in 2023, where we will publish an initial analysis of the new private rental prices indices.

Analysis of Census 2021 data for homeless populations

Initiative

Develop new insight and analysis on homeless populations using data collected during Census 2021 in England and Wales, subject to user needs and data quality.

Target date

Summer 2023

Lead

Michelle Waters (GSS Housing and Homelessness Coherence, Office for National Statistics)

Progress

We are reviewing the options for linking Census 2021 data to Homelessness Case Level Collection (H-CLIC) management information. If it is feasible, this will enable analysts from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) to track the outcomes based on those who have requested housing support.

Improve the evidence base for homelessness in England

Initiative

Use H-CLIC data in England to improve the evidence base for homelessness through the Homelessness Data England (HDE) Project and the Better Outcomes through Linked Data (BOLD) shared outcomes project. Both projects facilitate the linking of H-CLIC data over time, across geographical boundaries, and are enhanced with information from other government departments. Further data linking projects are underway, these include linking data from a survey of rough sleepers to substance misuse data and linking case level rough sleeping data to H-CLIC. We are also exploring legislative options to facilitate wider data sharing in future. Further work is taking place to explore whether further evidence can be drawn from existing data using innovative data science methods. This aims to aid and improve understanding of how households and individuals cycle in and out of homelessness over time and across the country.

Target date

Ongoing

Lead

Catherine Barham and Hannah Kirk (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities) and Rhodri Williams (Administrative Data Research UK)

Progress

In progress

Work is underway to finalise Data Sharing and Processing Agreements with other government departments

Expand coverage and quality of case level homelessness data in England

Initiative

Expand coverage and quality of case level homelessness data in England including through:

• developing a performance dashboard which will show high level performance indicators, allowing easier benchmarking between local authorities and within region
• developing quality dashboards for data providers (local authorities)
• making further data quality reporting improvements as part of the process to gain accredited official statistics status

Target date

Throughout 2021 and 2022

Lead

Catherine Barham, Madeha Asim and Valerie Viloria (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)

Progress

In progress.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities have:

• launched a performance dashboard which provides a high level summary of homelessness figures and performance across a range of metrics for each local authority in England
• published regular data on outcomes from H-CLIC publications
• expanded annual publications to include further breakdowns
• published additional temporary accommodation breakdowns alongside an infographic for 2021-22, a flows dashboard and support needs dashboard.

Publish analysis on people sleeping rough in England

Initiative

Collect information to understand individuals that sleep rough, including trends, spatial patterns, characteristics and the duration and frequency of rough sleeping, from a variety of data sources including the annual rough sleeping snapshot and management information.

Target date

In Progress

Lead

Jon White (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)

Progress

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) has been collecting monthly management information from all local authorities in England about the support for people sleeping rough and those at risk of sleeping rough, since May 2020, alongside the annual rough sleeping snapshot statistics, which have been collected since 2010. The Annual Rough Sleeping snapshot in England: autumn 2021 Annual Rough Sleeping snapshot in England: autumn 2021 was published on 24 February 2022. The autumn 2022 Rough sleeping snapshot will be published in February 2023. Management information about the support for people sleeping rough in England, 2021 was published alongside the snapshot. Further rough sleeping management information up to March 2022 was published in September; this is the first quarterly publication of management information about the support for people sleeping rough and those at risk of sleeping rough in local authorities across England, as has been committed in the rough sleep strategy published in September 2022.

Case level homelessness data collection in Wales

Initiative

Explore the feasibility of introducing case level homelessness data in Wales.

Target date

Ongoing

Lead

Luned Jones (Welsh Government)

Progress

Work to establish a case level collection in Wales is now underway. Engagement activities are being conducted with local authorities to introduce the work and to give them opportunity to provide initial feedback. Alongside this, options for systems are being scoped out and a first draft of a data specification is being developed. A pilot project seeking to acquire existing case-level data from a sample of authorities is running parallel to the long-term project, with knowledge being shared across the two workstreams.

Case level homelessness data across the UK

Initiative

Share learning of case level homelessness data to consider introduction in Wales and Northern Ireland, and coherence across the UK.

Target date

Spring 2023

Lead

Michelle Waters (GSS Housing and Homelessness Coherence, Office for National Statistics)

Progress

The GSS are working together to ensure there is a good understanding of the case level homeless data systems available across the UK, to consider the feasibility of developing such systems in Wales and Northern Ireland and consider how coherence of such systems can be improved.

Improve homelessness and rough sleeping statistics in Wales

Initiative

Publish monthly management information on homelessness and rough sleeping in Wales. The release covers temporary accommodation and the provision of long-term accommodation for people who present to local authorities for housing support as they are at risk of homelessness. It also includes estimates of rough sleeping, including a breakdown by local authority (from November 2020). Published data on accommodation is currently at Wales-level only.

Target date

2022 to 2023

Lead

Luned Jones (Welsh Government)

Progress

Ongoing monthly Management Information publication. Seeking to improve quality when resource available. Discussions regarding future publications, including the quarterly/annual homelessness official statistics published prior to the onset of the pandemic, are ongoing considering the more recent approach to homelessness in Wales and work on a new Homelessness Outcomes Framework.

Programme of homelessness and rough sleeping research and evaluation in England

Initiative

Carry out an ongoing homelessness and rough sleeping research and evaluation programme in England.

Target date

2022 to 2024

Lead

Lan-Ho Mann (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)

Progress

The first year will include a feasibility study for a system-wide evaluation and a test and learn element which is designed to improve the understanding of what works as effective practice or interventions. This will involve both existing approaches and new pilots and trials.

Deaths of homeless people in England and Wales

Initiative

Continue to publish and improve statistics on the deaths of homeless people in England and Wales.

Target date

Ongoing

Lead

David Mais (Data and Analysis for Social Care and Health, Office for National Statistics)

Progress

Deaths of homeless people in England and Wales (2020 death registrations) was published on 1 December 2021. Methodological improvements are being planned and tested, with the aim of progressing towards achieving accredited official statistics status. Discussions with the General Register Office, regarding the addition of a homelessness indicator on death certificates, are ongoing. This would increase the number of identified homeless deaths and improve comparability with the National Records of Scotland (NRS) homeless deaths output. The next iteration of this release, considering 2021 death registrations, was published in November 2022.

Deaths of homeless people in Scotland

Initiative

Continue to publish and improve statistics on deaths of people experiencing homelessness in Scotland.

Target date

Ongoing

Lead

Julie Ramsay (National Records of Scotland)

Progress

Homeless Deaths 2020 was published in November 2021. The next homeless deaths publication for Scotland, considering 2021 death registrations, was published in November 2022. Regular meetings are being held with other statistical producers to share developments and ideas, and consider the UK coherence of these statistics. NRS are investigating a new data stream for the identification of homeless deaths in Scotland. This involves asking local authorities to report any known homeless deaths in their submission to NRS. The process for calculating the statistics will be carried out as normal, and the new data will be used in a process run in parallel with the regular process to assess its quality

Improve homelessness and rough sleeping statistics in Northern Ireland

Initiative

Conduct a Street Needs Audit to understand street activity in major cities to develop the evidence base.

Target date

March 2023

Lead

Northern Ireland Housing Executive

Progress

The Northern Ireland Housing Executive intends to complete Street Needs Audits in Belfast, Derry/Londonderry and Newry by March 2023. The delivery will represent the completion of a commitment in the Chronic Homelessness Action Plan which was delayed due to the impact of the pandemic. This is being brought forward as part of the Homelessness Strategy 2022 to 2027.

Improve homelessness and rough sleeping statistics in Northern Ireland

Initiative

Commission research to explore the relationships between homelessness and health (Queen’s University Belfast).

Target date

From 2022

Lead

Northern Ireland Housing Executive

Progress

The Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) is working with Queen’s University Belfast on a research project that aims to explore relationships between homelessness and health using case level data. A Data Sharing Agreement has been signed by all relevant parties. Work is now ongoing of sharing analysis as part of this project.

Improve homelessness and rough sleeping statistics in Northern Ireland

Initiative

Develop new insight and analysis on homeless populations using data collected during Census 2021 in Northern Ireland subject to user needs and data quality.

Target date

From 2022

Lead

Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency

Progress

Exploration of the 2021 Census data in Northern Ireland has confirmed that the census cannot provide an accurate count of homeless populations.  There may however be opportunities to link census data to homelessness outputs to provide additional characteristic data.  NISRA will continue to consider whether options for linking Census 2021 data could enhance other data outputs and analysis (including to improve homeless and rough sleeping statistics).

Develop a fuel poverty strategy approach

Initiative

Analytical and statistical support will be required for the development of the new fuel poverty strategy, which will set out the approach for tackling fuel poverty in Scotland and meeting the various targets contained in the Fuel Poverty (Targets, Definition and Strategy) (Scotland) Act.

Target date

23 December 2021

Lead

Adam Krawczyk (Scottish Government)

Progress

Complete. Tackling fuel Poverty in Scotland: a strategic approach was published in December 2021. This was published alongside a Fuel Poverty Strategy Analytical Annex. It covers:

• Analysis of the drivers of fuel poverty
• Analysis of the characteristics of households which are likely to be in fuel poverty
• Modelling the scope and cost of energy efficiency improvements for fuel poor households
• Summarises the findings of an evidence review of heating system use and related behaviours of those with protected characteristics in Scotland who are at risk of fuel poverty.

Develop a new Northern Ireland Planning Portal

Initiative

The new planning portal is an administrative system to enable planning functions to be carried out across Northern Ireland. The current planning portal was at end of contract life and a new system is being developed. The new system will provide a more streamlined provision of the required data necessary to produce the suite of planning statistics currently published. In addition, the new system will hold information that was not previously held on the planning system, this will remove the need to maintain some production processes that were carried out alongside the current system. Department for Infrastructure Statisticians are attending weekly workshops and will be an integral part of the testing phase prior to public launch of a new portal.

Target date

In progress

Lead

Suzanne Napier (Department for Infrastructure, Northern Ireland)

Progress

There are two new planning portals being developed in Northern Ireland, one serving ten councils and the Department for Infrastructure (DfI, NI) and one standalone system for Mid Ulster council. The Mid Ulster planning portal went live in June and whilst any potential impact on future planning publications is currently unknown, DfI NI statisticians are working closely with Mid Ulster to ensure continuity in the reporting of planning statistics. The planning portal for the ten councils and the DfI NI is due to launch later in the year.

2021 Census analysis (England and Wales) – housing

Initiative

Analysis of census housing variables for England and Wales will begin in 2022, with a range of publications planned between mid-2022 and late 2023. The information in the census will be quality assured and enhanced through using other data sources. Beyond March 2023, the Office for National Statistics will focus on more complex projects that require linking or comparing Census 2021 data with other data sources. For example, Scotland and Northern Ireland’s Census data, previous censuses, or with other government surveys and administrative sources. This will enable development of detailed insights to inform future policy initiatives.

Target date

In progress

Lead

Tony Wilkins (Housing Analysis, Office for National Statistics)

Progress

Census data has been collected and is being processed. As a result of the Census Output Consultation, housing analysis proposals were published in October 2021, which lists planned outputs and publication schedule. First housing statistics releases are planned for Winter 2022

Transform the storage, processing and quality assurance of the data used to produce the quarterly Housing supply: indicators of new supply National Statistics

Initiative

We will move data ingestion, storage and processing to the department’s strategic data store. This will enable us to introduce more automation, reduce risks and increase quality assurance and analysis work, resulting in better quality statistics produced more efficiently.

Target date

2023

Lead

Richard Field (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)

Progress

To modernise the data ingestion and storage of data on housing supply, using automation to increase efficiency and flexibility of data processing.

Explore the feasibility of moving to census-like administrative data-based housing statistics

Initiative

Office for National Statistics is exploring how we can use an administrative base to produce subnational estimates of housing characteristics (including tenure and levels of overcrowding). The findings will form part of the evidence base for the National Statistician’s recommendation in 2023 on the future of population, migration and social statistics in England and Wales.

Target date

Through 2022 and 2023

Lead

Stephan Tietz (Admin-based Housing Characteristics, Office for National Statistics)

Progress

In progress

We published a report covering our research on replacing census accommodation type using Valuation Office Agency (VOA) property type data in March 2022. Explorative research into harmonising VOA and Energy Performance Certificate floor area has been conducted, the findings were published in Autumn 2022. Work has begun on linking several data sources to produce a minimum viable product of census like Admin Based Housing Stock Profile (such as age, property type, number of bedrooms, number of rooms). Possibility of publishing early results late 2022.

New system for collecting data on social housing lettings and sales (CORE)

Initiative

The new system will make it easier and less burdensome for the approximately 3,000 data providers to supply accurate data. This should improve the completeness and quality of the data and hence the statistics.

Target date

April 2023

Lead

Richard Field (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)

Progress

In development

The system build is currently in Private Beta phase, with early adopters using the system, and plans to move to all data providers onto the new service during early 2023.

Improvements to the annual council tax stock of properties statistical release showing statistics for England and Wales

Initiative

The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) will continually look to make improvements to both the quality and content of this annual release by incorporating feedback obtained from users. Due to limitations with gov.uk, we will look for opportunities to publish our data geospatially, possibly through the Integrated Data Service.

Target date

2023 to 2024

Lead

Claire Lyall (Valuation Office Agency)

Progress

Ongoing

VOA continually look to make improvements to the quality and content of this annual release. We are planning to make improvements to the VOA Statistics pages on gov.uk to provide a more intuitive user experience. We are looking for opportunities to publish our data geospatially.

Improve data on second homes, empty homes and short-term holiday lets in Wales

Initiative

Welsh Government is working with local authorities, the Office for National Statistics, Welsh Revenue authority and others to seek to improve data available on second homes, empty homes and short term holiday lets in Wales.

Target date

2022 to 2024

Lead

Luned Jones (Welsh Government)

Progress

The system build is currently in Private Beta phase, with early adopters using the system, and plans to move to all data providers onto the new service during early 2023.

Housing Conditions Evidence Programme in Wales

Initiative

Welsh Government continue developing the Housing Stock Analytical Resource for Wales, bringing together a range of data on the condition and energy efficiency of housing stock, together with consideration of need for any future housing conditions evidence programme.

Target date

Ongoing

Lead

Luned Jones (Welsh Government)

Progress

HStO in post to start using data in HSAR to demonstrate the sorts of things we can do and identify other sources of data to access. Welsh Housing Quality Standard (WHQS2023) development: consultation closed 03.08.2022, work to support this continues, large new data collection for all social stock considering the new Standard being developed alongside this. Modelled estimates of Fuel Poverty published in April 2022, detailed analysis of this was published on 2 November 2022. Work to support cost of living crisis and fuel costs specifically ongoing. Private Rented Sector – quality of stock and provision of additional supply (Leasing Scheme Wales).

Housing affordability

Initiative

Develop new national indicator on housing affordability

Target date

2022 to 2023

Lead

Luned Jones (Welsh Government)

Progress

Development work has taken place to determine definition of indicator (percentage of households spending 30% or more of income on housing costs), with some stakeholder engagement. First publication will be in Autumn 2022.

Utilising analysis of 2021 Census data on housing

Initiative

Make best use of analysis of 2021 Census data relating to housing, households and dwellings in Wales to inform the public and assist in the development of policy for the public good. Whilst this will cover a wide range of analysis there will be specific interest in under-occupancy and overcrowding, tenure, type of accommodation, renewable energy, second addresses, empty properties and housing inequalities for people with different characteristics (ethnicity, disability, age etc.).

Target date

From 2022

Lead

Luned Jones (Welsh Government)

Inclusive Data Taskforce

Initiative

To evaluate and address issues with the coverage of populations not resident in private households

Target date

Beyond 2022

Lead

Sofiya Stoyanova (Centre for Equalities and Inclusion, Office for National Statistics)

Progress

In 2022, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, jointly with ONS, are scoping out work to estimate populations not resident in private households and understand their experiences in relation to the general population. This includes work to look at people sleeping rough and in hostels and shelters. It is expected work will continue beyond 2022. We have completed a review of sampling and estimation methods used to capture information about different groups of people experiencing homelessness. We have done extensive stakeholder engagement within the UK and internationally to understand how homelessness is measured in different countries. We are currently finalising an evidence review on homelessness data in the UK, more specifically, data on hidden homelessness. The aim is to understand which of the groups experiencing homelessness we know the least about and investigate ways for better capturing information about some of these groups.

Development of new record-level data collection from Scottish local authorities on Short Term Lets Licensing Data

Initiative

To develop a new record level data collection from Scottish local authorities on Short Term Lets Licensing Data, to monitor the number of Short Term Lets and to track the number and outcome of all applications. This follows the approval of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Short-term Lets) Order 2022, which sets out that local authorities are required to maintain a public register of short-term let licences, and to share data for analytical purposes with Scottish Government on a quarterly basis. After 1 October 2022, new hosts and operators will need to have a licence and cannot accept bookings or have guests stay until their application is granted. Until 1 April 2023, existing hosts can operate a short-term let without a licence but need to apply for a licence by then if they wish to continue operating while their application is being determined.

Target date

End of 2023

Lead

Gordon Bryden (Scottish Government)

Progress

Work is underway in developing a data specification for data to be collected through the Scottish Government ProcXed system, and in liaising with local authority representatives through a working group, with the aim to collect the first set of quarterly data in early 2023, following the local authority licensing schemes being ready to receive applications by 1 October 2022.

Review of Scottish homelessness data collections

Initiative

Update Scottish homelessness (including prevention) data collections to better reflect changes in homelessness policy and better meet user needs. This is an extensive project which seeks to:

• identify required changes to all homelessness and prevention data collections to reflect current and future homelessness policy within Scotland
• identify any data gaps
• determine feasibility and quality implications of changes to collections

The review has been split in to 3 phases:

• initial information gathering exercise to allow the scope of the review to be determined. This will involve assessment of current collections with input from Scottish Government policy, local authorities and wider stakeholders and data users.
• consideration of collections in detail with an iterative approach to developing future content.
• working with stakeholders to refine content to arrive at a finalised question set.

Target date

2024

Lead

Sara White (Scottish Government)

Progress

The initial information gathering exercise has been concluded and working groups set up to work through changes that are required.

Comparison of Scottish Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) data with data from the Scottish House Condition Survey (SHCS)

Initiative

Scottish EPC data will be compared with data from the SHCS to identify the strengths and limitations of each source. Accredited official statistics on energy efficiency in Scotland are produced from the SHCS. EPCs are valid for a period of ten years and a valid EPC is required to sell or lease a property. EPCs are potentially a timely and rich source of information on energy efficiency but there is likely to be a significant amount of bias present in this administrative data source. It is likely that coverage will be better in some tenures than others, e.g., the rented sectors, it is likely that the most recent information for some properties will be considerably out of date, and it is also likely that there are some properties that will not be covered in the data at all, e.g., properties where the owners have lived there for a long time. Despite these likely limitations, it is possible that EPC data will be able to pick up trends in energy efficiency over time and be able to provide more granular information on things that are difficult to pick-up in household surveys because of their relatively low prevalence in the housing stock e.g., the presence of renewable heating systems.

Target date

March 2023

Lead

Eleni Iordanidou

Progress

An initial exploratory analysis has been conducted using the Scottish EPC data available from the Scottish Government’s open data platform. This data contains only one record for a property corresponding to the most recent EPC. This limits the usefulness of the data for time series analysis and this issue will be addressed in subsequent analysis

2022 Census Housing analysis (Scotland)

Initiative

Plans for the analysis of census housing variables for Scotland will be developed in 2022. These will be informed by the consultation with users on Scottish census outputs which NRS will be starting later in 2022, and by the analysis of 2021 Census housing variables for England and Wales being undertaken by ONS. Beyond March 2023 it is intended that housing analysis proposals will be published, with a list of planned outputs and a publication schedule.

Target date

March 2023

Lead

Sandy Taylor (National Records of Scotland)

Progress

Initial outline plans to be reviewed and confirmed later in 2022. 2022 Census data for Scotland has been collected and is currently being processed. The census results are expected to become available from the second half of 2023.

Conduct qualitative research to understand more about the lived experiences of Gypsies and Travellers who were identified as being under-represented in UK data and evidence

Initiative

Qualitative research has been carried out to understand more about the lived experiences of Gypsy and Traveller groups living in England and Wales.

Target date

December 2022

Lead

Dawn Snape (Centre for Equalities and Inclusion, Office for National Statistics)

Progress

A report on the lived experiences of communities in relation to housing, health, education, employment and justice was published on the 7 December 2022.

Conduct qualitative research to understand more about the lived experiences of specific non-household population groups under-represented in UK data and evidence

Initiative

Qualitative research is planned to understand more about the lived experiences of specific non-household populations. The focus for 2022 to 2023 will be to explore lived experiences of domestic abuse survivors with experience of living in temporary ‘safe’ accommodation.

Target date

Autumn to Winter 2023

Lead

Dawn Snape and Shona Horter (Centre for Equalities and Inclusion, Office for National Statistics)

Progress

A report on the experiences of domestic abuse survivors’ experiences with temporary ‘safe’ accommodation will be published in Autumn to Winter 2023.

Conduct qualitative research to understand more about the lived experiences of young (age 14 to 18 years) refugees, asylum seekers, and those on a range of resettlement schemes, as well as their parents/carers

Initiative

The interviews will explore their priorities, needs, well-being and engagement with services including education, health, and housing.

Target date

Autumn to Winter 2023

Lead

Dawn Snape and Shona Horter (Centre for Equalities and Inclusion, Office for National Statistics)

Progress

A report on the lived experiences of young refugees, asylum seekers, and those on a range of resettlement schemes will be published in Autumn to Winter 2023.

Improve homelessness and rough sleeping statistics in Scotland

Initiative

Improve homelessness and rough sleeping statistics in Scotland to improve usability and make more engaging and understandable.

Target date

June 2021 publication

Lead

Sara White (Scottish Government)

Progress

Publication complete. Style of homelessness publications reformatted and updated to improve usability. New analysis made available in the publication and equalities breakdowns released earlier than usual, now in line with annual publication. Continual improvement to publication accessibility and usability. The August 2022 publication includes additional tables for time in temporary accommodation as well as updated formats to reflect legal requirements around accessibility.

Ensure the coherence of Integrated Data Service (IDS) housing and homelessness outputs

Initiative

Work alongside Integrated Data Service (IDS) to provide coherence expertise to feed into the future IDS platforms aimed at transforming the accessibility of open housing and homelessness data.

Target date

2023

Lead

Michelle Waters (GSS Housing and Homelessness Coherence, Office for National Statistics) and Ross Bowen (Integrated Data Service)

Progress

The IDS have progressed creation of a content management system and tools to aid analysts in producing ready-to-use, well-described data. This is demonstrated through the proof of concept climate change portal, which brings together cross-government data to use in a series of dashboards and articles.

Improve accessibility of the Northern Ireland Planning Monitoring Framework

Initiative

The Northern Ireland Planning Monitoring Framework publication is being reviewed with a view to reducing the overall file size of the published document, developing visuals, carrying out work towards further meeting accessibility requirements and engage with key users.

Target date

Winter 2022 to 2023

Lead

Suzanne Napier (Department for Infrastructure, Northern Ireland)

Progress

Due to resource pressures, only Excel tables were released for the 2020 to 2021 period. Work is underway for the 2021 to 2022 Planning Monitoring Framework. The accessibility of information released is a primary focus for the next release which is currently planned for winter 2022 to 2023.

Northern Ireland’s Planning Statistics Excel tables will be developed to bring them in line with accessibility guidance

Target date

Ongoing

Lead

Suzanne Napier (Department for Infrastructure, Northern Ireland)

Progress

Completed; tables will be kept under review to ensure that compliance is maintained.

Add interactive data visualisation tools to accredited official statistics publications on housing and planning

Initiative

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has developed the capability to host and publish Power BI products and we are exploiting this capability to make our statistical publications more accessible and engaging for users.

Target date

Progressive rollout

Lead

Richard Field (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)

Progress

In progress

We have introduced interactive data visualisation tools, or dashboards, as part of our statistical publications on housing supply, dwelling stock, social housing lettings, planning applications, land use and green belt.

Enhance the accessibility of the Scottish Government Planning Performance Statistics and Scottish Vacant and Derelict Land Survey publications

Initiative

Enhance the accessibility of the Scottish Government Planning Performance Statistics publication (biannual) and Scottish Vacant and Derelict Land Survey publication (annual). We are following the guidance produced by the Scottish Government Office of the Chief Statistician. The focus of the accessibility enhancements will be on publication text, tables and charts.

Target date

End of 2023

Lead

Charles Brown (Scottish Government)

Progress

Work has already begun on the Scottish Vacant and Derelict Land Survey publication (published 24 May 2022) and the Annual Planning Performance Statistics publication (due to be published on 31 August 2022). More accessibility enhancements will be made in the next set of publications during 2023. Publications can be found on our planning statistics webpage.

Harmonisation of housing questions

Initiative

While a strong user need has not been identified to review and redevelop the housing harmonised standards, Social Survey Transformation in Office for National Statistics is developing and testing a tenure question. The outcome of this question development will be reviewed in order to consider updating the tenure harmonised standard.

Target date

March 2022

Lead

Michelle Waters (GSS Housing and Homelessness Coherence, Office for National Statistics)

Progress

Paused

There is currently no resource to continue the review of the tenure harmonised standard, this will be reviewed and considered on an ongoing basis against other harmonisation priorities.