Publication, Part of NHS Surplus Land
NHS Surplus Land, Quarter 1 2024/25
Official statistics, Experimental statistics
Introduction and Key Quality Measures
Introduction
This document aims to set out the assessment of the quality of the data used to produce the NHS Surplus Land quarter 1 2024/25 release in accordance with the Code of Practice for Statistics by using the European Statistical System (ESS) quality dimensions and principles appropriate for this publication.
Purpose of Data Quality Information
This document aims to provide users with an evidence-based assessment of the quality of the statistical content of this publication by reporting against those of the nine European Statistical System (ESS) quality dimensions and principles[1] appropriate to this output. In doing so, this meets our obligation to comply with the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA) Code of Practice for Statistics[2], particularly the Pillar of Quality, Principle 3 “Q3 Assured quality”, which states:
"Producers of statistics and data should explain clearly how they assure themselves that statistics and data are accurate, reliable, coherent and timely."
For each dimension, the relevant section briefly describes how this applies to the NHS Surplus Land quarter 1 2024/25 release.
[1] The original quality dimensions were Relevance; Accuracy and Reliability; Timeliness and Punctuality; Accessibility and Clarity; and Coherence and Comparability. These are set out in Eurostat Statistical Law. However more recent quality guidance from Eurostat included some additional quality principles on: Output Quality Trade-Offs; Users Needs and Perceptions; Performance Cost and Respondent Burden; and Confidentiality, Transparency and Security.
Relevance
This report relates to the position as of 30th June 2024 and is based on transactions in progress or added since the start of the 2024/25 financial year.
The NHS Surplus Land collection is mandatory for all NHS secondary care providers including Ambulance Trusts. It relates to sold, surplus and potentially surplus land owned by the NHS which has either been disposed of since April 2024 or could be disposed of in the near future. It also records potential housing capacity on land area sold in the financial year of disposal, where 'sold' is defined as contracts having been exchanged (rather than the date of final sale).
The collection is a "live collection" and remains open throughout the year for updating by NHS trusts and by NHS Property Services (who provide management services and rental land and property to the NHS). Data are extracted at the end of each financial quarter following a validation period; we expect the length of this to decrease as the collection embeds with data providers and stakeholder specialists work with trusts to improve data quality and timeliness.
- Opportunities for disposal (where the plot could be declared as surplus by the landowner (and disposal strategy developed) subject to identified issues or constraints being resolved.
- Surplus land (the plot is considered surplus or has been declared surplus; the landowner is actively seeking to dispose of the plot).
- Sold plots (the plot has been sold / contracts have been exchanged since 1st April 2023 onwards).
- Land that is no longer surplus (the plot was previosly identified as surplus or as an opportunity but is no longer considered to be surplus).
- Properties that will remain in health use after sale or transfer to other NHS organisations.
- Property held on a lease of less than 99 years.
The scope and content of the NHS Surplus Land collection are reviewed annually to ensure it continues to collect information necessary for, and relevant to, monitoring the contribution made by the NHS to ensure the efficient and strategic use of the NHS estate.
Annual review is carried out through feedback from data providers and discussion with the Department of Health and Social Care and other interested parties. Changes to the collection are subject to approval by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the Data Coordination Board (DCB) and details of changes prior to 2019/20 can be found in the data quality statements for previous releases:
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-surplus-land
A review was carried out by DHSC, NHS Digital and NHS England & Improvement following the 2018/19 publication. This led to the decision to streamline several collections into a single live collection to be conducted via NHS Digital's online collection tool (the Estates and Facilities Management (EFM) portal. This aims to reduce the burden on data providers and allows them to update data at any time rather than retrospectively. More frequent reporting has been carried out since Q2 2020-21 (increasing transparency), and this release comprises the results from the first quarterly extract of 2024-25.
Timeliness and Punctuality
The quarter 1 2024/25 NHS Surplus Land data was published as soon as possible following receipt and validation of data, and creation of analytical reports. This publication is based on data as of 30th June 2024, supplied between 8th May and 15th July 2024 via the Estates Facilities Management (EFM) online system.
Accessibility and Clarity
The NHS Surplus Land publication consists of a “Key Facts” webpage providing summary information, a machine-readable data file containing only non-sensitive record level data, data quality information, and a data field definitions document, which replicates the field definitions issued to data providers to facilitate consistent completion across England during the data collection phase.
Aggregate values are described for key metrics and include all plots in the collection. As the .csv file does not contain details of all plots (those declared as sensitive are excluded), users should not attempt to derive England totals for metrics not included in the key facts.
For information on re-use of this data, please see the 'Title' worksheet of the Data Definitions document.
Last edited: 4 March 2025 3:17 pm