Local Authorities and Housing Associations roof types: FOI release

Information requested

You asked for details of non traditional or prefabs with lightweight roof structural systems and flat roof types for:

• Scottish council house stock
• Housing Association stock
• Scottish councils own community building stock
• NHS buildings
• Any other government owned buildings

You also asked if there were records of housing stock that show dates roofs were upgraded or due date for renewal.

Response

I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested. The attached table shows the proportion of non-traditional buildings with different roof types for Local Authorities and Housing associations, based on the Scottish House Condition Survey 2015 - 2017 (three years merged as sample sizes were quite small).

These statistics are based on the Scottish House Condition Survey (SHCS), a national survey of the housing stock. As the SHCS is a sample survey, all survey figures are estimates of the true prevalence within the population and will contain some error associated with sampling variability.

While the SHCS covers all types of households and dwellings across the country, there is not a defined “traditional/non-traditional” category in the survey form. However, using information collected on external walls, a traditionally built dwelling has been defined here when the external wall is a cavity or solid wall, and is constructed from any of: bricks, stone or blocks. Information on cement is not collected. A non-traditionally built dwelling is any building which does not meet these criteria.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested. The reasons why we don’t have the information are explained in the Annex to this letter.

You may wish to contact individual Local Authorities or Housing Associations, who might be able to provide you with more detail on plans they have for upgrading their housing stock. Local authorities have a statutory duty under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 to keep houses they let in a good state of repair and fit for human habitation, and to carry out any repairs needed to meet this duty within a reasonable time of becoming aware of them. Under the Scottish Social Housing Charter, landlords should provide their tenants with information about their plans for maintaining their property and complying with housing standards.

Roof types for dwellings with non-traditional construction [1], by tenure. SHCS 2015-2017.
	LA/other public		HA/Co-op
	Count	Col %	Count	Col %
Pitched	36,000	69%	64,000	79%
Flat	15,000	29%	15,000	18%
Other*	1,000	2%	2,000	3%
Total	52,000	100%	82,000	100%
Sample		189		286

[1] The SHCS does not have a traditional/non-traditional category, but does collect information on external wall construction materials. Therefore, a traditionally built dwelling is defined here where the external wall is a cavity or solid wall, and is constructed from any of: bricks, stone or blocks. Information on cement is not collected. A non-traditionally built dwelling is any dwelling which does not meet these criteria.   A flat roof is defined as a pitch less than 10 degrees.

* Other category includes a small number of cases where the roof type was unobtainable.

Annex - Reasons for not providing information
The Scottish Government does not have the information

Section 17(1) of FOISA (information not held) requires the Scottish Government to notify you if it does not have the information you requested. The Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have asked for because we do not routinely collect data on roof types for some of the buildings included in your request. This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested.

For the last part of your request: Records of housing stock that show dates roofs were upgraded or due date for renewal.

The Scottish Government does not hold records of the dates roofs are upgraded or when they are due for renewal, because is the responsibility of the Local Authorities and Housing Associations to carry out the necessary repairs on their housing stock. Local authorities have a statutory duty under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 to keep houses they let in a good state of repair and fit for human habitation, and to carry out any repairs needed to meet this duty within a reasonable time of becoming aware of them. Under the Scottish Social Housing Charter, landlords should provide their tenants with information about their plans for maintaining their property and complying with housing standards.

About FOI
The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.