Yorkshire Housing – Review of Statistical Data Return

Yorkshire Housing is a Registered Provider with more than 16,700 affordable and social rent homes located in more than 20 local authority areas in Yorkshire, with plans to build 8,000 homes by 2030

Objective

Following previous issues with the Statistical Data Return (SDR) completion, we were asked to review the work undertaken by the working group set up to validate and complete the SDR process before submission.

What we did

The key elements were:

• To review the policies, procedures and processes now in place to complete the SDR.
• To provide Yorkshire Housing with a summary report outlining the findings of this review, which could be shared with the board, with a view to providing assurance that it has done all it can to address previous issues.

This involved:

• Document reviewing, including previous SDR submission, minutes of meetings, procedures, delivery framework and data definitions.
• Interviewing key staff involved in the process.
• Providing guidance on data definitions and validated whether these matched those of the regulator.
• Reviewing the current approach to data validation as the data source that Yorkshire Housing use for completion of the SDR crosses over a number of internal systems.

What we achieved

We confirmed the approach followed in the preparation and completion of the SDR, including:

• the data validation was comprehensive and robust;
• the data definitions used align with those outlined by the regulator and these had been consistently applied; and
• a transparent audit trail of the data source was in place.

Overall Yorkshire Housing had done all it could to ensure the data submitted is correct. We also confirmed that Yorkshire Housing has a good framework in place to oversee the data management, and a good understanding of what work is still needed to be done in this area. We provided a written report that could be shared with the board to offer assurance in this area.