Background
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The Tenant Services Authority (TSA) requires accurate and current national social housing data in order to support its role as the national regulator of the sector. The National Register of Social Housing (NROSH) is a property database initially developed by Communities and Local Government (CLG) and the Tenant Services Authority (TSA and further extended by RM). It collects information about all social rented and affordable housing units in England at individual property level.
NROSH contains comprehensive information on each of the homes currently owned and/or managed by any registered provider, (including registered social landlords (RSLs) and local authorities (LAs). It is regularly updated to take account of gains and losses to stock and changes in attributes.
NROSH provides huge benefits to the sector by reducing the amount of time and effort required in order to complete other statutory returns:
The Project & the Challenge
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The NROSH project involves the collection, processing and validation of individual property level records from approximately 2,300 data providers covering approximately 4.5 million dwellings across England. Data providers consisting of Local Authorities (LAs) and Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) are required to submit data at least quarterly and ideally monthly for larger organisations.
A key strategic NROSH aim is to reduce burdens placed on data providers whilst ensuring data submitted is of high quality and reliable leading to the eventual replacement of several other data collection exercises.
Collection of data at the lowest possible level of detail provide the TSA with a rich and flexible data landscape in which to make evidence based decisions. Data providers benefit from the introduction of a new reporting framework providing rich business intelligence.
The Solution
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RM Data Solutions were awarded the NROSH contract in 2009. The NROSH dataset was previously accessible via an on line reporting suite to central, regional and local government and their agencies on request. The publication vehicle was a separate application called NROSH-Online.
The objectives of this project were to provide a new Web portal that enables the agencies involved in the NROSH system to submit data in XML files and to have that data validated and loaded to a staging database. The system provides validation reports and allows for the resubmission of corrected data files.
The Portal also provides facilities to enable access to a master database for analysis purposes, the system supports the dissemination of data extracts and aggregated reporting data via a suite of predefined reports and file transfer facilities.
The Results & the Benefits
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- A single consistent social housing database
NROSH standardises the information available on individual social housing dwellings.
- More flexible data
NROSH is based on sound methodology for collecting and analysing data at unit level i.e. property-level rather than summary level data.
- More accessible statistics
These finer-grained data allow us to improve our management information and analysis.
- Reduced time and effort
Once set up NROSH will extract data "automatically" from your housing management system rather than requiring a manual summary.
- RSR and HSSA migration to NROSH
NROSH will replace the collection of most of the property information required by the Regulatory and Statistical Return (RSR), the Housing Strategy Statistical Appendix (HSSA), the Business Plan Annual Monitoring form (BPSA-AM), the Housing Revenue Account Subsidy Claim Form (HRASC) and the Housing Flows Reconciliation form (HFR).
- NROSH enables enhanced analysis
For the first time, NROSH makes available comprehensive information at local level on social housing provision in England. This represents huge change in the potential for analysis and social housing research. As well as improving the quality of proposals for new development, NROSH will also facilitate benchmarking and locally-defined performance comparison.
NROSH data can be analysed at any geographical level including:
- Postcode;
- Ward;
- Lower super output area;
- Local authority;
- Region; and
- Sub-region.
NROSH data can also be enhanced with data from other sources to provide extra information about each dwelling and an expanded scope for analysis, for example:
- Environment Agency data on flood risk.
- Valuation Office Agency data on council tax band.
- The Continuous Recording of Lettings and Sales data (CORE).
View the NROSH website by clicking here >>>
If you have a similar requirement or would like to find out more contact Paul Charman at paul.charman@rm.com alternatively call him on 020 7803 3346
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