Background to the Housing Statistics Network

Background.
The HSN was established in 2010 to further dialogue between users and providers of housing statistics and a focus for identifying and resolving common issues. It was formally inaugurated at an open seminar on 26 February which adopted the Aims and Objectives, endorsed the Steering Group membership and resolved to affiliate to the Statistics Users Forum organised by the Royal Statistical Society. If you would like a bit more information on the Statistics Users Forum and the other statistics groups that are affiliated to it have a look at the RSS background note on the SUF.

HSN Steering Group
The sustainability of the HSN will in part depend on the effectiveness of the Steering Group in representing the interests of statistics users and meeting the needs of data providers through the organisation of events and the infrastructure for open debate. For the list of Steering Group members and other information go to Steering Group via the contents menu.

Support the HSN by Registering
The HSN website is open access but if you would like to show your support for the HSN or be on the contact list for email alerts of key events please provide your contact details using the Registration Form which you can access through the contents menu.

HSN Internet Forum.
MSJC has established a pilot Internet Forum to facilitate debate and the raising of issues. This is also open access but you need to register/log in separately for this by going to HSN Internet Forum. You are invited to post messages in reply to the existing announcements and topics, to start new discussion threads or bring new issues to the attention of the Steering Group; to ask questions or to answer other peoples' questions. Feedback of any kind is always welcome.

Launch Seminar
The HSN was formally inaugurated at a Launch Seminar on 26 Feb 2010. The presentations, covering house prices, private renting, homelessness and social housing can now be viewed or downloaded by pdf.

Aims & Objectives
Aims and Objectives were adopted at the HSN Launch Seminar.

HSN Seminar Topics Consultation Feb 2010

1. Delegates at the HSN Launch Seminar on 26 February 2010 were invited to suggest issues for future seminars or other events. The Steering Group would like to thank all those who participated in this exercise for the many useful, and in some cases pretty challenging suggestions. A full transcription of these can be found in Topic Suggestions in the Launch Seminar section of this site.

2. The next stage is a consultation of the full HSN contact list. The suggestions from the seminar have been grouped to create packages of related issues which might provide the basis for a half day seminar. This list is below. Please help the Network to decide which of these are tackled first by casting your vote on the HSN Internet Forum. Just tick up to four of the topics you would like to see prioritised and submit. Do it today. You will be able to see the progress of the vote any time you log in to the Internet Forum. To cast your vote go to the HSN Future Seminar Programme topic in the HSN Internet Forum

3. It’s recognised that there is some overlap between seminar topics. This is difficult to avoid but it is hoped there is sufficient difference to make each worthwhile. If you would like to make suggestions for additional topics or alternative groupings please do, by posting Reply messages in the Future Seminar Programme Consultation section of the HSN Internet Forum. Same goes if you were author of one of the original suggestions and would like to amplify what you had in mind. I’d particularly like to hear from the person who suggested statistics from longitudinal studies and the person who proposed a change to the planning Use Classes re. private rented sector development.

4. It is apparent that there are a number of overarching themes which apply to a greater or lesser degree to each of the seminars, even if they have not been specifically identified yet in the scope. These include :-

Current estimates

Monitoring

Projections/forecasts

Equality

Geography

Access

Again post a message to let the Network know if you would like these covered systematically at each seminar and/or if you have identified additional overarching themes that you would like to be addressed in the same way.

HSN Seminar Grouped Topics – Consultation List

Vote and Comment via the HSN Internet Forum

Details of the seminar including presentations can be found in this section under the sub-topics in the menu on the left.

1. Opening remarks about re-launch of the Housing Statistics Network. Mick Johnston (MSJConsultancy)
2. Overview of housing statistics. Meg Green/Trevor Steeples (Communities and Local Government)
3. House prices and house price statistics. Peter Williams (Consultant/Acadametrics)
4. Homelessness. Analysis of the first homelessness prevention statistics. Hal Pawson ( School of the Built Environment, Herriot Watt University)
5. Social housing. Current statistics, the Regulatory Statistical Return, and new data, the National Register of Social Housing. Christine Whitehead (Centre for Housing and Planning Research, Cambridge University)
6. Private rented sector statistics; what there is and what is needed. Steve Wilcox (Centre for Housing Policy, York University)
7. Housing Statistics Network; Provisional aims and objectives and steering group members.

Housing Statistics Network Launch Seminar 26 February 2010

HSN Officially Launched

The Housing Statistics Network was formally launched at the seminar attended by over 70 delegates from the widest possible range of housing statistics users and suppliers including the UK Statistics Authority, Mortgage Lenders, Chartered Institute of Housing, Communities and Local Government, the Office for National Statistics, the building industry, Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy, Shelter, the Homes and Communities Agency, Tenant Services Authority, local government, housing associations, the Audit Commission, Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly.

The Seminar took the following strategic decisions:-

Approved the HSN Steering Group membership.

Adopted Aims And Objectives for the HSN.

Affiliated the HSN to the RSS Statistics Users Forum. Overview.

A panel of eminent housing statistics experts gave highly informative presentations on a wide range of topics. These were as follows and can all be downloaded.

Meg Green and Trevor Steeples from Communities and Local Government outlined the many data collections and statistics publications the department is responsible. Highlighted the high priority that user consultation has currently and the consultation mechanisms that are in place. Consultation has just started on the household projections methodology, the English Housing Survey will be subject to review and consultation later in the year and a number of topics are due for UKSA assessment this year.
View presentation in pdf.

Peter Williams, Chair of the Acadametrics consultancy presented a fascinating comparative study of the seven different house price indices that are currently published. He highlighted the considerable differences between them and looking at the impact they can have on individual and institutional behaviour in the market called for greater clarity on and wider understanding of the reasons for the differences. Download. The Acadametrics House Price Index monitor, which can also be downloaded, details the methodological differences and is well worth studying.
View presentation in pdf. View Index Monitor in pdf

Steve Wilcox, Editor of the UK Housing Review and based at the Centre for Housing Policy at the University of York emphasised the importance of understanding the private rented sector. Given its volatility, which he illustrated with buy to let, benefit and stock statistics, and its interrelatedness with the other sectors he argued that it is not possible to fully understand the functioning of one without the other. He decried the relative paucity of data on private renting and looked forward to the release of administrative data from the rent service, tenancy deposit schemes and HMO licensing to alleviate it.
View presentation in pdf.

Hal Pawson, Social Research professor specialising in housing at the School of the Built Environment, Herriot Watt University, presented, hot from the press, the first analysis of the new homelessness prevention statistics. He highlighted some surprising statistics such as the continued sharp reduction of both homeless referrals and acceptances through the current recession and the number of local authorities recently reporting zero acceptances. The new data showed a very high dependence on re-housing in the private rented sector for prevention of homelessness, which tended to support Steve Wilcox' view in the previous presentation on the importance of understanding the private rented sector. While prevention now appears more important than statutory re-housing it is unclear how they relate to each other and the number of questions raised suggests the need for further research and/or better data.
View presentation in pdf.

Christine Whitehead, internationally renowned housing economist from the London School of Economics and Director of the Centre for Housing and Planning Research at Cambridge University described the range of social housing stock, and lettings data currently available and the reports on these available from Dataspring. She went on to outline the new address level stock and management data which will be available from the National Register of Social Housing, opening up possibilities for linking these with lettings and other data at property level to enable powerful analysis of relationships between each and analytical mapping at much lower geographical levels than is currently possible.
View presentation in pdf.

House Price Indices;

Peter Williams - 2010.02.26. Powerpoint in pdf

Wood, R ( 2005 ) A comparison of UK residential house price indices, BIS papers No 21, BIS

Thwaites, G and Wood, R ( 2003) The measurement of house prices, BoE Quarterly Bulletin, Spring, BoE

Acadametrics (2010) Seven House Price Indices -but not one agreed house price;

Acadametrics Website

Communities and Local Government Overview of Housing Statistics;

Meg Green/Trevor Steeples 2010.02.26. Powerpoint in pdf

Communities and Local Government Housing Statistics

Communities and Local Government Places Database

Communities and Local Government Statement on administrative data

Private Rented Sector Statistics;

Steve Wilcox 2010.02.26. Powerpoint in pdf

Homelessness Prevention,New Statistics;

Hal Pawson 2010.02.26. Powerpoint in pdf

Social Rented Sector Statistics Overview;

Christine Whitehead 2010.02.26. Powerpoint in pdf

Dataspring.

Peter Williams is a consultant working in the areas of housing finance, markets and policy. He has undertaken assignments for lenders, trade associations and service providers, central and local government and academic institutions. In November 2009 he became Chairman of the Government's National Housing and Planning Advice Unit (NHPAU).

He provides contracted services to the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association (as Executive Director), Acadametrics ( the FT House Price Index) and is a Board member of the Kent Reliance Building Society, the Property Codes Compliance Board and Consult CIH and Chairman of Thames Valley Housing Association.

He is a Visiting Professor at the Centre for Housing Policy, University of York.

He was previously Deputy Director General of the Council of Mortgage Lenders, Professor of Housing at the University of Wales, Cardiff, Deputy Director of the Chartered Institute of Housing and a Board Member of the Housing Corporation and Tai Cymru.

His contact details are as follows;
Office; 02083905872
Mobile; 07718120858
Email; peter@prwilliams.org

Hal Pawson is a social researcher specialising mainly in housing policy. Since joining Heriot-Watt in 1995 Hal has led numerous major research projects, many commissioned by central government departments and national housing agencies in England and Scotland. Recent projects have included research on choice-based lettings, housing stock transfer, homelessness prevention and tenant satisfaction assessment. Hal is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Housing and a board member of an Edinburgh-based housing association.

Christine Whitehead is Professor of Housing in the Department of Economics, London School of Economics and Director of the Cambridge Centre for Housing and Planning Research, University of Cambridge. She is an internationally respected applied economist whose research is well-known in both academic and policy circles.

Latterly she has been involved in projects on European social housing; developments in mortgage markets; and housing and planning issues, notably on Section 106; ensuring adequate land supply; and density.

She is Co-Deputy Chair of the European Network for Housing Research; an honorary member of RICS; and was elected fellow of the Society of Property Researchers in 2001. She has been advisor to House of Commons Select Committees on many occasions.

She was awarded an OBE in 1991 for services to housing.

Her latest publications include At any cost? Access to housing in a changing financial marketplace, with Katrina Gaus, European Social Housing II: a Review of policies and outcomes with Kathleen Scanlon and Land Use Regulation: Transferring lessons from developed economies with Rebecca Chiu, Sasha Tsenkova and Bengt Turner.

Steve Wilcox is Professor at the Centre for Housing Policy at the University of York. He is also part time self employed, and lives in Somerset. He has edited the annual UK Housing Review for eighteen years, and has written numerous reports on housing finance and housing policy issues for a wide range of governmental and other national organisations in all parts of the UK, including a number of reports dealing with issues in the private rented sector.

Previously he was a Senior Research Associate at Cardiff University, and principal housing policy advisor to both the London Boroughs Association and the Chartered Institute of Housing. He is currently a member of the DWP Housing Benefit Strategy Committee and is leading a review of council housing finance for the Welsh Assembly Government. He is also a member of the Advisory Boards for the Cambridge Centre for Housing and Planning Research, the NHBC Foundation and Roof, the Shelter Housing Magazine.

Recent reports on local housing market affordability for Hometrack has made use of their local data on private rents, and a report just published by NHPAU includes a review of guidance to authorities on the analysis of the role of the private rented sector within their local housing markets.

The UK Housing Review is now published on the web at www.ukhousingreview.org.uk

Full Transcript of Launch Seminar Suggestions for Future Seminars

Details of the Housing Needs seminar will appear in this section as they become available.

The Housing Statistics Network invites you to an open seminar on Housing Needs at the Royal Statistical Society, London on the afternoon of 6 October 2010. Speakers are:

Glen Bramley, School of the Built Environment, Heriot Watt University.

Alan Holmans, Centre for Housing and Planning Research, University of Cambridge.

Sarah Monk, Centre for Housing and Planning Research, University of Cambridge.

Andy Park, Centre for Housing Market Analysis, Scottish Government

  The seminar will outline the main methodologies currently available to local authorities and others for estimating and projecting housing needs at national, regional and local level and will present examples. There will be a Panel Q & A on the methodologies and a Workshop on the data needed; what is available, where to get them, what is not currently available and what might be done to fill the gaps.

Attendance is free but please register using the registration form.

The full programme will be posted nearer to the day.

Details of the Housing Needs agenda will be appearing here shortly.

Details for the Housing Needs speaker profiles will appear here shortly

Details for the Housing Needs report will appear here shortly after the seminar is held

The Housing Needs presentations will appear here shortly after the seminar is held

Registrants and attendants of the Housing Needs Seminar will appear here during registration and after the seminar is held.

The following Aims and objectives were adopted at the Housing Statistics Launch Seminar on 26 February 2010

• Represent the interests of users of housing statistics with the providers.
• Assist networking between statistics users.
• Raise the profile of housing statistics and the emanating issues.
• Collectively advocate for and seek to drive improvements in the scope, quality, consistency, accessibility, presentation and analysis of housing statistics.

• Organise at least two open events per year.
• Develop a website to facilitate networking and consultation.
• Affiliate to the Statistics Users Forum.
• Establish interest through discussion forums, seminars and events.
• Prioritise areas to work on with providers and users.

Steering Group members, meetings and discussion note on how the group may operate.

An effective Steering Group is vital to the success of the HSN. We started recruiting for the Steering Group with an open invitation for volunteers at the beginning of January 2010. However there was so much interest that we had to suspend further recruitment from are now, as of 1st Feb 2010.

The provisional Steering Group met for the first time on 26 February 2010, prior to the HSN Launch and made recommendations for limited changes to its membership in the interests of broadening representation. The resultant membership list was presented to the HSN Launch Seminar which gave endorsement. The current membership is here.

Volunteers who were unable to get onto the Steering Group at this stage have been put on a waiting list, also shown below, and will be offered any places that come available due to withdrawal of existing members.

Reports of Steering Group meetings will be published here together with any associated papers. Suggestions for issues the Steering Group could take up or events it could organise are invited and should be posted on the HSN Internet Forum.

The Steering Group, once established, will determine its own rules, remit and method of working. Some statistics groups have been around for a long time and have developed quite elaborate ways of working. The wisest approach for a new group might be to start with something relatively modest but achievable. The following are the thoughts of the author only (Mick Johnston) but may help anyone considering whether to volunteer for the steering group to get a handle on what might be involved. I sincerely hope it doesn't put anyone off.

Perhaps a membership of around a dozen. If there were to be a lot more volunteers than this some method of selection would probably need to be adopted but that would be for the Steering Group to address later.

While there should be no expectation that every member would be hyperactively engaged it would be important that all do actively participate to a greater or lesser degree on a fairly regular basis.

It would probably be useful to have some kind of periodic review of membership primarily to ensure that vacant places are filled and perhaps that the desired range of representation is achieved.

Constitution. The minimum requirement is a set of Aims and Objectives. The RSS has advised that something on the lines of the current draft would suffice. If the Steering Group decided that in future this needed to be developed the RSS would be happy to advise.

The Steering Group has a key role in setting the direction of the HSN through the nature and content of the events it organises and the issues it chooses to highlight.

The SG is responsible for ensuring that any programme it adopts is delivered. This does not necessarily mean that they have to do all the work themselves. The question of how delivery is organised and, if required, resourced is for the SG to decide.

The SG is largely responsible for developing the relationship between statistics users and the suppliers of statistics. This is less straightforward than it might appear as most suppliers of statistics are also users of other peoples' statistics. It is common for suppliers of statistics to attend, and/or be members of SGs, at the invitation of statistics users, in some kind of co-opted/advisory capacity.

The SG would have a general responsibility for ensuring that the interests of the whole range of HSN members are represented in the programme and in the dialogue with statistics suppliers.

The SG would be responsible for ensuring representation at the Statistics Users Forum and deciding on input as appropriate to any conferences or other events that the SUF organises.

The SG should publish some record of its proceedings but not necessarily full formal minutes.

Funding. Some Statistics Groups charge a fee for membership, generally a nominal one but most do not. The predecessor Housing Statistics User Group decided not to on the grounds that the burden of handling large volumes of small transactions would probably be greater than the net benefit. However this, or alternative methods of funding, may be something that the SG would want to look at.

Meetings or not? MSJConsultancy is a bit old fashioned and believes that some face to face contact is highly desirable in developing the work of any group, particularly a new one. However electronic communication has come so far since the predecessor of the HSN foundered that it can now in theory play a major role in avoiding unnecessary meetings and travel. The best balance between the two will be for the SG to find.

Newsletter. Some statistics groups produce a newsletter as the focus for both communication with their network and for airing issues. Again it is for the SG to decide whether it has the resources for this type of activity or whether alternative methods of communication could do the job.

12 May 2010, 2-5pm. In the Nightingale room at RSS, Errol Street, London.

October 2010 Date, time and place to be announced.

First Meeting
26th Feb. 2010, 12-1pm.
Prior to HSN Launch Seminar at 1pm.

1. This was the first meeting of the newly formed Steering Group held immediately prior to the Housing Statistics Launch Seminar and before the membership of the Steering Group was fully determined. It was a short meeting so the agenda was limited. The following decisions were taken.

2. Membership of the Steering Group

1. Enlarge the group to allow representatives from the devolved administrations and the Homes and Communities Agency to join.
2. Offer a place to the existing nominees from the Welsh Assembly and HCA. Action Mick
3. Invite the Scottish Government to nominate a representative. Action Meg
4. Invite the Northern Ireland Assembly to nominate a representative. Action Mick
5. Because of the pressure on places to restrict organisations to one representative. Action Mick
6. If vacancies arise offer them in date order of precedence to the nominations received after the 1 February 2010 cut off date.
7. It was agreed that the membership as amended should be recommended to the seminar for endorsement.

3. Steering Group Constitution

1. Hold meetings in London unless agreed otherwise for specific meetings.
2. When events are held the Steering Group will meet same day and place.
3. On a trial basis use a confidential area in the HSN Internet Forum to conduct Steering Group Business between meetings, if this can be arranged. Action Mick
4. Hold an annual meeting of the Steering Group to review the Constitution and Aims and Objectives and deal with any administrative business. This should take place around February.
5. Appoint a chair for a three year period with the option to review annually. Appointment to take place at the next SG meeting
6. Affiliate to the Statistics Users Forum, on the current basis that there is no charge.
7. The Chair plus one other to be determined by the Steering Group will represent the HSN at the SUF. Appointment of second representative to take place at the next SG meeting.
8. Aims and Objectives. The draft was amended and adopted. It was agreed that it should be recommended to the Seminar for endorsement.
9. Establish a more formal approach to determining membership of the Steering Group with a view to securing the necessary range of representation, significant continuity and a fair and transparent process. To be put into effect through an annual review of membership starting in a year.

4. Future Events

1. It was agreed to plan for one more event in 2010, to be held in October, and to aim for three events in 2011.
2. The following topics were suggested; House prices, Ethnicity, Household projections, Social housing waiting lists, Affordability, Practical seminar on the use of statistics, Building completions, Forecasting generally.
3. It was agreed to report these to the seminar and invite their suggestions using Post Its and notice boards, and to try and involve HSN contacts in prioritising the resultant list. Action Mick & Liam.

5. Funding

This was deferred to the next meeting

6. Next meeting

It was agreed that this would be in the second week of May 2010, date/time to be agreed by email, at the RSS. Action Mick & Liam.

The HSN Internet Forum has been created as an open facility to enable anyone with an interest in housing statistics to air their views, raise issues, canvass support for new initiatives, respond to consultations, develop networks etc. Any user can start new discussion Topics as necessary to pursue their interests. The latest posts will be flagged on the HSN website.

Register to have your say
Anyone can register for the HSNIF and we actively encourage all contact list members to do so, just click on 'HSN Internet Forum' next to the HSN title above and follow the instructions. Once registered you can post replies to existing topics and create new topics and have additional functionality which you can access through the User Control Panel. New Members should check the details which appear for them in the Members List.

How to Post a Reply or Start a New Topic on the HSN Internet Forum
After registration/logging-in, the home page has a large central panel showing two Fora; Housing Statistics Network Internet Forum which is the Forum proper, and Announcements, which covers administrative aspects.

Click on 'Housing Statistics Network Internet Forum' and it will move to the list of Topics. If you click on any of them you will see the posts on each to date and a box with 'POSTREPLY' in red lettering. Click on this and you can write in your comment.

If you would like to start a new topic for discussion go back to the previous page, the list of existing Topics, click on the box labelled 'NEWTOPIC' and enter your text.

The UK Statistics Authority is an independent body operating at arm's length from Government as a non-ministerial department, directly accountable to Parliament. It was established on 1 April 2008 by the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007.

How to Give Input to a UKSA Statistics Assessment
When a review starts the dataset will appear in the Current Assessments list on the UKSA website, together with guidance on providing input, an email address to send your comments to and the name and phone number of a contact. There are currently no housing related assessments in progress.

Housing Related Datasets Currently in the UKSA Assessment Programme
The following housing related datasets were in the UKSA Assessment Programme as at 26 March 2010. They come from a full list of the assessments which are programmed to begin between now and December of 2010, currently numbering over 80.

The UKSA has asked for comment by 10 June on its Strengthening User Engagement report. The report has far reaching and potentially very beneficial implications for all users of statistics. The seven recommendations include:-

• Investigate and document the needs of users of official statistics
• Government Statistical Service (GSS) should use web technology to enhance the accessibility of official statistics.
• Government departments should help user groups represent the interests of their members

Statistics Users Forum Annual Conference27 October 2010
Venue to be announced. Recession Statistics.

The SUF 2010 annual conference will explore the recession, answering some important questions from a statistics user perspective. For example, are the right data available to understand the recession or help predict another one? Are we measuring the right things, or giving them the correct emphasis? There will be a mixture of plenary and parallel sessions, looking at the recession from both an economic and social perspective.
Charlie Bean, Deputy Governor of the Bank of England will be speaking; further key note speakers to be announced.
We also plan to hold a drinks reception after the conference for SUF user group members. This will be a chance for user group members to hear first hand from Andrew Dilnot and Jenny Church about SUF work this year and plans for the future, and for user group members to engage with members of other user groups.
The SUF would very much like your views on what aspects of the recession you’d like to see covered. If you have any suggestions for a session, particular areas you think the agenda should highlight, or if you would be prepared to help arrange a session, please contact Liam Murray at l.murray@rss.org.uk.

RSS Conference 2010:13-17th Sept 2010
at Brighton Annual RSS International Conference

Click here for more details.

• To register for the seminar just fill out the boxes marked with a red asterisk and click register.
• Please note that if you are not already on the HSN contact list, by registering for the seminar your details will be added to it for all HSN announcements.
• If you wish to only register for the contact list and not the seminar, please don't forget to check the 'Register for contact list only' box below.