Dear Sandra
STATISTICS ON HOUSING IN ENGLAND
Thank you for providing an update detailing your team’s improvements in response to findings from our compliance check of Statistics on Housing in England. We have reviewed your reported improvements to Net Additional Dwellings, New Build Dwellings, Affordable Housing Supply and Dwelling Stock Estimates. The work you have set out addresses the areas for improvement we raised and I am therefore pleased to confirm the continued designation of these as National Statistics.
We welcome your team taking the opportunity to work with the GSS Good Practice Team to support improving the presentation of the statistics. We particularly want to commend:
- Your ongoing work to improve the quality of data used to produce New Build Dwellings; improving the presentation of the statistics; and including energy performance data within the quarterly publication to help provide users with additional insight and an indication of estimates presented in the forthcoming annual Net Additional Dwellings.
- Your improvements to the coherence of your statistics by publishing guidance within each publication about how the range of housing statistics relate to each other, supported by an accessible one page guide.
- Improved supporting information about the strengths and limitations of the data sources used to produce each statistic, and publishing your assessment of the existing quality assurances of these sources taking into account the Authority’s Quality Assurance for Administrative Data Regulatory standard.
- Your continued collaborative working with statisticians in the Office for National Statistics and across the devolved administrations as part of the Cross-Government Housing Statistics Working Group to deliver a range of wider improvements to housing and planning statistics.
We acknowledge your efforts to respond to our findings. We also welcome your team’s commitment to continue reviewing the existing assurances of the large volume of administrative data sources used to produce the statistics. This will include refreshing published information to address our comments about some areas where there is scope to present clearer justifications about existing assurances, as well as responding to users’ feedback. We also look forward to seeing your planned improvements to the presentation of Dwelling Stock Estimates, scheduled for May 2019.
We will engage with your team about your planned developments through our usual engagement channels with the responsible analysts.
I am copying this letter to Daniel Shaw, Head of Housing Statistics at MHCLG.
Your sincerely,
Mary Gregory
Deputy Director for Regulation
Related Links:
Sandra Tudor to Mary Gregory (January 2019)
Mary Gregory to Sandra Tudor (June 2018)
Systemic Review of Statistics on Housing and Planning (November 2017)