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Volume 1
Chapter 5 Gathering the Evidence

Introduction

5.1. Good strategies for dealing with poor housing conditions and sound delivery depend on a good evidence base. The research we have done shows that most local authorities feel they have poor information about private sector house condition, at least at local level ¹⁰.

5.2. Local authorities need good data on both house condition and related social and economic factors to inform their strategies for the private sector (see chapter 3).

5.3. This guidance provides practical advice for local authority staff who are involved in developing local strategies or deciding how to prioritise action. It is important to manage carefully the process of collecting house condition, and relevant socio-economic data, because it is easy to waste time and money by doing too much or doing the wrong thing.

5.4. There are two basic approaches to collecting such information, which are usually separate:

• conducting sample surveys, to understand the type and scale of local problems; and
• gathering information on individual houses, to help target action on specific houses and households.

5.5. We consider each approach below.

Sample surveys

5.6. A sample survey helps identify the scale of house condition and social issues and can help an authority to plan and prioritise action to deal with specific problems. The larger a sample the more accurate the picture. Where services are responsive and involve reacting to people approaching the local authority, sample data should help decisions about the capacity that the service should have.

5.7. The first step in planning a survey is to find out what information the authority needs and is likely to need in the future. All the information required may be available from a national survey; or the authority may need to commission its own survey to provide reliable data at a local level.

National surveys

5.8. The Scottish House Condition Survey ( SHCS) is the national survey that looks at the physical condition of Scotland's homes as well as the experiences of householders. The Scottish Household Survey ( SHS), the Census and Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics also provide a range of socio-economic information at a national level and local level that can feed into local strategies. Websites for the main data sources are:

• 2001 Census: www.scrol.gov.uk/scrol/common/home.jsp
• Neighbourhood Statistics: www.sns.gov.uk/
• Scottish House Condition Survey: www.shcs.gov.uk/
• Scottish Household Survey: www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/16002
• General Register Office for Scotland: www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/

5.9. Since 2003 the SHCS has been a continuous survey. The SHCS team plans to produce findings at individual local authority level - generally from three years of survey data. The survey team can also carry out localised analysis where sample sizes are sufficiently large. Sub-national analysis, where available, can provide an informative overview of housing conditions. Interpreting this type of data requires care, particularly when looking at sub-categories of information at a local level. The smaller the number of houses in a group within the national survey results, the less certainty surrounds the findings.

5.10. The SHCS team in the Scottish Government intends, during 2008, to review how it reports on disrepair, with a view to aligning the terms used in the SHCS analysis with those which the 2006 Act introduces as triggers for enforcement action. For more information on these terms, see Volume 2 paragraphs 2.9 to 2.30.

5.11. When an authority wants data for a particular group of houses or owners ( e.g. house type A in area B) the first step is to consider whether the national surveys give good enough information. Do they include the information that you need, and, if not, do they include other information that is a good substitute?

5.12. If the national surveys collect the right information, the authority should consider whether the sample size is big enough to give useful results. This is a technical question about statistical sampling and confidence intervals. The SHCS, SHS and Census websites provide guidance and contacts for further advice.

Local surveys

5.13. If the national surveys do not provide the data required, the authority may want to commission survey work. Designing a survey is specialised work. If it is not done well, the results can have gaps or be misleading, which can be costly to put right. If the survey could be designed to build on information from national surveys but does not, an opportunity may be lost. The survey may be more expensive than it needs to be and the information collected may be less useful because it is not fully comparable with national and other local authority sources. So an authority thinking of commissioning survey work may wish to discuss this with the Scottish Government SHCS team as well as with other specialists.

5.14. Whichever route an authority takes to commissioning a local survey, some of the main points to bear in mind are:

• What exactly does the authority need to know?

This means thinking carefully through the ways the survey data will be used, including new demands that are likely to arise as circumstances or priorities change.

• What is the smallest area for which the information is needed?

This will affect the size of the sample. It may also raise confidentiality issues if reporting on a small area means that there is a risk of being able to identify individuals.

• How will the survey information be processed?

The raw data needs to be processed to give useful information. The survey provider normally does this. The provider may also supply a report. But the authority as client should always leave itself in a position to carry out further data analysis. It should make sure that it owns the raw data, in a format that it can use. Advice from IT specialists should be obtained because data issues can be highly technical.

• Should the survey be repeated at intervals?

It is often important to collect information at regular intervals, so that the survey shows trends over time and allows the authority to assess the effectiveness of its actions. The authority should think carefully about its future information needs. If it is important to know how things change over time, the authority should consider either repeat surveys at regular intervals or a rolling survey. It should also decide whether to commit to a particular survey provider into the future. If it decides not to do this, the authority needs to be very clear that it owns the data from the initial survey.

• Is the local survey compatible with national surveys?

Where this is possible it strengthens both the local survey and the national survey by making, in effect, a larger combined sample. It also allows national government to make fairer comparisons between local authorities - for example when deciding how to distribute funds.

• What are the constraints of time and money?

The timetable and budget affect what can be achieved.

• Does the authority have the skills needed to manage the process? And does it have provision for staff time and cost?

As client, the authority will need to specify various aspects of the work. It may need to provide technical or staffing support, which can be intensive at times. If the staff responsible have not managed such a survey before they should get advice about what can be involved. It might be a good idea to use existing local authority networks and contacts to discuss ideas with colleagues who have direct experience of this type of work.

5.15. The Scottish Government's SHCS and SHS team is keen to help local authorities with their survey work. The team can offer ad-hoc practical advice on local survey issues, including:

• sample design and sampling;
• definitions and standards;
• question design;
• time series and periodicity;
• cost comparisons;
• quality assurance;
• training;
• data validation; and
• software options.

5.16. The SHCS team also offers the use of its contract with Ipsos-Mori to encourage and support local surveys by authorities. Fieldwork, quality assurance and database production is available on a commercial basis. This gives authorities the opportunity to commission a physical and social survey which is compatible with the national SHCS.

5.17. The team can be contacted for more information on any of these issues at shcs@scotland.gsi.gov.uk.

5.18. We want to make sure that local authorities have access to in-house or external technical expertise that allows them to scope, plan and manage local surveys. One way to do this would be to expand the current ad-hoc SHCS advice service by providing a national specialist advisor who could assist local authorities that are considering carrying out local surveys. We would welcome views on this proposal.

Gathering information on individual houses

5.19. Sampling is not the way to identify individual houses or clusters of houses and their owners that need action. Expanding a normal survey to a 100% sample is rarely a sensible approach. Where the authority wants to find specific houses that need action - for example to deal with houses in serious disrepair or below the tolerable standard or to ensure that needed adaptations are provided - it will need to take a different approach.

5.20. The best way of finding specific information about a house will depend partly on what information is needed. Things to consider include:

• Does the authority hold other information that will help identify the houses concerned?
• Will the outside of the house give some or all of the information needed?
• Will the interior of the house require to be inspected at some point?
• Is the owner or tenant likely to object to an inspection?
• Will the authority need information from the owner (such as who is the factor or what do the title deeds say about common repairs)?
• Will a specialist (such as a structural engineer) need to make a judgement?

5.21. Similar considerations apply to social information, such as the nature of a disability and how it links to the nature of the house so that there is a need for action.

Internal information

5.22. Authorities hold a range of valuable information that could help to show where they need to take action. Examples include:

• complaints from private tenants or neighbours to the landlord registration team and information received from the Private Rented Housing Panel;
• enquiries from owners or tenants about how to deal with problems about their house condition;
• records from previous housing grants and statutory action;
• observations from officers carrying out other duties in the field, such as environmental health, building control or planning officers, the antisocial behaviour team and so on; and
• welfare concerns from staff dealing with individuals, such as community care and social work staff, whether about poor housing conditions or the need for adaptations.

5.23. Information of this type can be very valuable, and can be the basis of evidence for action. In most local authorities this type of information will come from sources that cut across service and departmental boundaries. This means that getting the most from it will require careful co-ordination and management as well as good communications within an authority. Depending on how the authority currently manages this process, the survey manager may want to:

• examine whether current methods and systems for retaining and sharing information - including IT systems such as databases - make the most of the potential;
• investigate with colleagues what might be available;
• consider whether a specific service and individual(s) should take the lead role in co-ordinating this activity; and
• work out whether it is feasible to collect such information more effectively by altering internal routines.

5.24. The survey manager will also want to check with legal advisers whether the range of information sources can be used without breaching data protection requirements. Each local authority has to make its own decisions about the interpretation of the law. But it may be helpful to find out (perhaps through local authority networks) what arrangements other authorities have made to collect information internally, especially where they have had external advice, for example from the Information Commissioner.

Inspection

5.25. Detailed physical inspection of houses to decide whether action is needed can be time-consuming and expensive. This may be time and money well spent where the result is that a housing need is dealt with. But it may be wasteful if many inspections prove to be unnecessary.

5.26. Some authorities have found that a methodical, street-by-street 'drive-by' inspection by experienced building surveyors provides a large body of useful information. Staff can use this to decide where to focus attention for more detailed inspection work. It can also lead directly to action in some cases. This may be a service that one authority could provide to another.

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