Information on number of lets made is collected at an aggregate level. Sensitive or confidential information relating to individual houses or people is not collected.

Data collected on numbers of lettings made by local authorities is sourced directly from the 32 Local Authorities in Scotland. There is no sampling involved in this data collection and complete coverage of Scotland is usually achieved across most data items. In the event of non-response from a Local Authority, an estimate can be made either based on previous returns or on alternative information sources.

Information provided by Local Authorities is extracted from Management Information Systems. We expect this information to be of good quality as it is used in the day-to-day housing management as well as for reporting purposes. We also expect the systems to have some built in quality assurance.

Scottish Government statisticians carry out quality assurance of data provided from each Local Authority prior to publication. In particular figures are compared to those provided in previous years. Where there appears to be a discrepancy this is queried with the local authority and, if necessary, changes are made either to the latest year’s data or to that for earlier years in order to ensure consistency.

Figures are sourced from management information systems therefore there no sampling error or confidence interval that would affect the accuracy of the results, although there may be a small amount of error associated with non-response and subsequent estimation.

Data on the number of applicants on lettings made by local authorities has been collected in a consistent manner since 2001-02. The time series is affected by 6 local authorities that transferred all of their stock to housing associations between 2003 and 2007. This means that figures for Glasgow and Scottish Borders are excluded from 2003 onwards, Dumfries & Galloway from 2004, Na h-Eileanan Siar and Argyll & Bute from 2007 and Inverclyde from 2008.

The Scottish Housing Regulator collect figures on vacancies arising from all social landlords, including Registered Social Landlords and the 26 local authorities that own housing stock. Although the timing and data sources used by SHR and SG Housing statistics are similar, there may be some differences in definitions which may cause figures to be slightly different in some cases.

Figures on vacancies arising during the year should not be confused with numbers of vacant dwellings at 31st March each year, which are also published separately on the open data platform.

The return collects information on permanent lettings made to Local Authority stock during the relevant year.

These figures are a measurement of the number of dwellings that have become vacant for potential use by a new tenant. Vacancies arising in housing used as temporary accommodation are not included because these are not letting stock. Vacancies that have arisen as a result of mutual exchanges are also excluded because they do not create an opportunity for a new household to be offered a tenancy.

Tables are published on the Scottish Government Housing Statistics website as soon as possible once data collection, data processing and preparation of tables and publication material is complete, generally in September each year. The open data platform will be updated as soon as possible after publication.

Figures are subject to routine revisions. The figures may contain estimates where an authority is unable to return data. These are revised in the next scheduled publication following receipt of revised data.