Housing Revenue Account (HRA) Statistics: Scottish Local Authority Housing Income and Expenditure 1997-98 to 2022-23 (near actuals) & 2023-24 (budgeted estimates)

15. An Analysis of Gypsy/ Traveller Accommodation

15.1 In 2022 the Scottish Government added two questions to the HRA survey to gather information on councils’ income and expenditure on Gypsy/Traveller accommodation. The first year of data for 2021-22 was experimental and the decision was taken not to publish it until a fuller set of survey responses had been received. This is now the case.

15.2 The data gathered will add to the Scottish Government evidence-base on Gypsy/Traveller Accommodation, helping it understand the costs of running Gypsy/Traveller sites and rental income generated. It will help build an understanding of investment needs to inform future funding policy as part of wider work being progressed under the Gypsy/Traveller Action Plan.

15.3 The Gypsy/Traveller Action Plan, Improving the lives of Gypsy/Travellers, published in 2019, includes a key commitment to review housing and investment programs, to ensure that the needs of Gypsy/Travellers are included going forward. As a result, the Housing to 2040 strategy announced a Gypsy Traveller Accommodation Fund of up to £20 million from 2021-26 for more and better Gypsy/Traveller accommodation.

15.4 In discussion with members of the Gypsy/Traveller community, an Interim Site Design Guide has been published to sit alongside the Fund to assist public sector providers of Gypsy/Traveller sites to design high quality accommodation that meets the varying needs of families, including children, older and disabled people. Demonstration projects are under way, trialing the Site Design Guide, exploring what good quality Gypsy/Traveller accommodation that reflects Housing 2040 principles looks like, and seeking cost effective ways of delivering it. We have commissioned an external evaluation of the Fund and Design Guide.

15.5 Seven of the twenty-six councils provided a response to the new questions and these were; Angus, Clackmannanshire, the City of Edinburgh, Fife, Perth and Kinross, South Lanarkshire and West Dunbartonshire. This included all the councils which the Scottish Government were expecting to receive information from.

15.6 Councils reported the following HRA income and expenditure (£000) on Gypsy/Traveller accommodation:

• rental income (£606k)
• supervision and management expenditure (£293k)
• repairs and maintenance expenditure (£270k)
• total rent arrears at 31^st March (£87k)

15.7 Councils were asked if there were any other items of income or expenditure on Gypsy/ Traveller accommodation that they included on the HRA. None did, but one said that their Gypsy/ Traveller site is held in the General Fund rather than the HRA.