English Housing Survey faces cuts
The government is considering cutting the number of people it surveys on housing conditions by as much as 40 per cent.
The Communities and Local Government department has launched a consultation on how to save money from the English Housing Survey, which collects information on the condition of housing across tenures, and people’s housing circumstances across England.
The consultation includes a choice between two cuts to the number of people interviewed of either 20-25 per cent or 35-40 per cent.
The department is also considering dropping a number of questions in the survey including those on national identity, sexuality and religion.
The paper says: ‘The EHS is an expensive survey to fund. A review of the survey has been undertaken over the last six months to identify where savings could be made in the running costs of the survey.’
The review proposed cutting the amount of training property surveyors receive from a two-day residential course to a one day course.
