(Image: NQ)
Scotland could stop publishing annual figures on homeless deaths despite the country being in the grip of a housing emergency.
National Records of Scotland (NRS) is proposing to release its standalone homeless deaths statistics only once every two years as part of a wider shake-up of official data publications.
The change would come more than two years after the Scottish Government declared a national housing emergency, with the latest figures showing 231 people died while homeless in 2024.
That figure represented an almost 48% increase since tracking began in 2017.
Glasgow’s homelessness deaths rose to 36 in 2024, with almost 300 total recorded in the city over five years.
Scottish Labour housing spokesman Mark Griffin hit out at the proposal to reduce the frequency of homeless deaths statistics.
He said: “We face so many public policy challenges in that regular and robust data is absolutely crucial.
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“Scaling back on reporting the number of people who have died while homeless in the middle of a housing emergency would be completely unacceptable.
“We can't look the other way or bury our heads in the sand while people die.”
Iris Duane, housing spokesperson for the Scottish Greens, said the decision was a "scandal".
She said: “Every statistic gathered is more than just a number. These are real people who deserve dignity and a safe place to call home like every one of us.
"Just because we don’t publish the numbers does not mean they are not being felt. Every loss is a life, a story and a failed opportunity for the government to end the scandal of homelessness.
“Too often, every statistic is a person failed by systems that should have been there to support them much earlier, in order to prevent homelessness in the first instance."
The Scottish Greens have said the NRS must continue to publish the data annually.
Scottish Lib Dem MSP Liam McArthur said not having regular data leaves the Government and Holyrood “ill-equipped to tackle” the issue.
The decision to cut the frequency of the publication of figures on homelessness deaths has been dubbed a “scandal”.
Plans to move to publishing the figures every two years rather than annually were revealed in a written Holyrood question on Thursday, with a six-week consultation being launched.
The statistics released earlier this year estimated 231 homeless people had died in 2024, a 40% increase from 2017.
The decision also comes as figures last month showed almost 3,000 households had slept rough in 2025-26 the day before they applied for homelessness support.
Scottish Green MSP Iris Duane said: “This decision should be considered a scandal.
“Every statistic gathered is more than just a number. These are real people who deserve dignity and a safe place to call home like every one of us.
“Just because we don’t publish the numbers does not mean they are not being felt.
“Every loss is a life, a story and a failed opportunity for the Government to end the scandal of homelessness.
“Too often, every statistic is a person failed by systems that should have been there to support them much earlier, in order to prevent homelessness in the first instance.
“The Scottish Government can do so much more to prevent homeless deaths. Starting with a public health approach, and properly funded, integrated public services including mental health and addiction support, person-centred social care and a trauma-informed justice system.
“But they also need to ensure that NRS keeps sharing that data annually, to ensure that every measure taken is working to end homelessness and deaths related to being unhoused.”
Scottish Lib Dem MSP Liam McArthur said not having regular data leaves the Government and Holyrood “ill-equipped to tackle” the issue.
“After 19 years in government, the SNP have a housing emergency, a mental health crisis and a drug deaths tragedy to answer for," he said.
Reform MSP Thomas Kerr said: “In the middle of a full-blown housing and homelessness crisis, instead of getting a grip on the problem, the First Minister is sneakily consulting with National Records Scotland to hide these alarming statistics from the public.
“This is shameless, manipulative and shows utter disregard not only for the vulnerable Scots perishing on our streets but for every voter who is being denied the chance to see what this Government has done about it.
“We demand full transparency over the figures that reflect the reality of this horrendous situation so it can be tackled.”
“Cutting statistics on homeless deaths will not make the problem disappear."
Meanwhile, NRS is also proposing to halve the frequency of its standalone publication on deaths from Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia, moving it from an annual to a biennial release.
Annual analysis of dementia as a leading cause of death would continue to be published elsewhere, however.
The changes are part of a wider review of Scotland’s official statistics, which NRS said was designed to ensure its statistical output remained sustainable and provided maximum public value.
Under the proposals, monthly mortality analysis would be reduced to quarterly releases, while the Households and Dwellings in Scotland publication would move from annual to every two years.
Avoidable mortality statistics would become a data-only release, while provisional Small Area Population Estimates would no longer be published.
Responsibility for producing Healthy Life Expectancy statistics would also transfer from NRS to Public Health Scotland after the 2023-25 reporting period, while statistics on people registered to vote would move to the Scottish Government.
NRS said its initial engagement had focused largely on organisations and stakeholders which use the statistics for policy development, but it is now seeking views from the wider public.
A six-week consultation on the proposed changes launches on Thursday, with feedback to be considered before final decisions are taken.
NRS said the review was intended to ensure Scotland continued to have a “sustainable, high-quality statistical system”, with resources focused on publications providing the greatest value to users and decision-makers.
A spokeswoman for the NHS said: "NRS has invited feedback on proposed changes to our statistical publication programme. People whose work is impacted by the suggested changes in frequency or format of publications are asked to send their views to us by 3 December."
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Every death of a person experiencing homelessness highlights its unacceptable cost.
“We are taking decisive action to shift our approach from crisis management to prevention, backed by our £50 million Homelessness Prevention Fund, the delivery of 1,500 Housing First tenancies and our £2 million support for Social Bite’s efforts to address homelessness.”