Statistics & the CHMACharles Brown

Assistant Statistician

Tel: 0131 244 0870 Mailbox: chma@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

Overview• Short biography

• Key statistical functions of the Centre

• Statistics training programme

• Guidance and advice on statistics

• Statistics on the Centre’s new website

• How to contact the Centre

• Questions from me & you

A Bit About Me!Quick Biography• Graduated from Edinburgh University 1999 - Psychology

(25% applied statistics) • Joined Scottish Government (SG) in 1999 • Held posts Health, Justice, OCEA and OCS • Joined CHMA in August 2008 – new to housing! Government Statistical Service (GSS)• Also belong to the Government Statistics Service (GSS)• 100+ statisticians in SG, with 1,000+ statistics collections• I can tap into this pool of statistics expertise to help you.

Why have a Statistician in the CHMA?• Housing Need & Demand Assessments (HNDAs) need a robust

evidence-base

• The HNDA Guidance encourages local authorities to collect and analyse statistics – quite technical in parts!

• Local authorities have differing levels of analytical resource available – some more that others

• The Centre will provide local authorities with additional statistical expertise and resource if needed

Function 1: Guidance & Advice • Provide statistics training and share best practice on the

HNDA Guidance

• Improve access to relevant national data via a dedicated ‘statistics portal’

• Advise on methodologies and techniques to help maximise the quality of HNDAs

• Provide market context material eg research on housing, regeneration, equalities etc to complement HNDAs

Function 2: Our Formal Role • Responsible for “considering” if the PROCESS used to produce HNDAs is robust

and credible

• My role - to see if the process by which HNDA statistics are produced is robust and credible - not the numbers per se

• A quality assurance process - balancing local authorities need to avoid enquiries with the need to be flexible (recognising the importance of local information and different scenarios)

• About partnership working, in the spirit of the new Concordat to achieve the best HNDAs we can

• Ongoing guidance and advice = robust and credible HNDAs

Training Programme 2008-2009

• Program in place for statistics training including;

- housing and planning data collections

- HNDA Guidance (2008) step-by-step application

- equality statistics

• Training backed up by web-based materials eg presentations, information packs, etc

• Regional where possible

• Think about what statistics training you need – and let us know

Guidance & Advice

• We can provide statistical guidance on;

- application of the HNDA Guidance (2008) - methodology eg sampling, confidence intervals etc - sourcing secondary data & selecting the best data - commissioning primary data eg local surveys - analysing and report statistics - so please get in touch!

• CHMA website will list Q&As – a problem shared is a problem halved

Statistics on CHMA Website

• CHMA website is under construction• Expected to go live this week http://www.scotland.gov.uk/chma• ‘Statistics Portal’ with links to relevant HNDA statistics• An area to share examples of ‘best practice’ in gathering

local data and ‘one-off’ pieces of your work• And much more…..training materials, guidance, market

context materials, details of the Steering group…• This is your resource so tell us what you think?

Contacting Us• Preferred route is through local HID teams• Can contact the Centre directly• A single response from the Centre and HID together• On receipt of queries will agree timescales for response• Ways to make contact: Mailbox: chma@scotland.gsi.gov.uk Tel: 0131 244 0870• If statistics queries are HNDA-related, contact the Centre

first and we will forward to the relevant statistician

• The Centre is your resource – so please use us!

• We’re about partnership working to help achieve the best HNDAs possible – based on sound evidence

• Keep in touch as you progress your HNDAs and lets progress gradually to ‘robust’ and ‘credible’

• We want to learn from you the local experts – tell us about examples of best practice, any difficulties with HNDA Guidance and lets share our knowledge

So in Summary…….

Questions for You?• To help us help you:

- what statistics training would you like? - what statistics guidance is needed? - what would you like on the website? - how should we contact & feedback to you?

Thank You

ANY QUESTIONS?