Dear Alastair 

Scottish House Condition Survey 2021  

Thank you for your letter outlining your intention to publish key findings from the 2021 Scottish House Condition Survey (SHCS) as experimental statistics. 

Given the changes required to data collection for SHCS 2021 due to COVID-19, and the new statistical methods employed, I support your proposal to publish the SHCS 2021 statistics as experimental statistics rather than National Statistics. 

I am pleased that your statisticians have engaged with key users of the statistics about these plans and explained the mitigations that they have taken. I also welcome your plans to explain the resulting impacts on data quality, to help ensure an appropriate interpretation of the statistics when published. 

Our Housing, Planning and Local Services team will be happy to engage with your statisticians about the most appropriate timing for a short review of the SHCS 2022 statistics once you feel assured that they will again be available on a comparable basis. This will be with a view to reinstating the designation when they are published.  

Yours sincerely  

Ed Humpherson
Director General for Regulation 

 

Related Links:

Alastair McAlpine to Ed Humpherson: Scottish House Condition Survey 2021