Yes, I'm more than happy to come in on this. On the point of data, I think, certainly from an empty homes officers' point of view, we can only go with what we've got or what we have access to. The data that council tax provides gives us 95 per cent to 99 per cent of all the information we need and what we're looking at. The other 1 per cent is made up from complaints, referrals from councillors, from members, from the public. By simply driving around and going to visit other empty homes, you might see a case that you'd not picked up on before. So, yes, we'd love to have more data, we'd love to have more access to other sources of information and other complaints and referrals of empty homes, but we have to go with what we've got, and that data is, essentially, mostly council tax.
Picking up on the points that the panel have made so far, council tax is only as good as what goes into it. Across what we believe are the seven definitions of types of empty homes to record, to look at and investigate, one of those is properties that are recorded on council tax as being occupied and owner-occupied, but the empty homes officers themselves know they're empty. We will never know how many of those there are out there without complaints or referrals from the public. We could explore more where councils look into commercial property and business property. We could look at domestic rates valuations and rates of compliance there. But, again, that is much of an unknown for an empty homes officer that's only really ever dealt with residential property. So, the data is as good as it can be for what we need it. Obviously, it could always be better with some input and maybe some reform later down the line.
In terms of what Scotland are doing, I echo what Andrew has already said, that Wales is—. And I always refer to Wales as being three or four steps ahead when it comes to empty homes work. The programmes, the schemes, the initiatives always are way ahead of the game when it comes to comparing Wales with England and Scotland. Scotland are only just a little bit behind, but they are at least having these kinds of conversations and looking at exploring other types of enforcement power. Compulsory sale orders is one that's been talked about over the past five, six years, but has never been brought to fruition. But, from our point of view, the fact that it is being talked about, that it is being considered and that these things are an option is very good.
Going back to what the panel have said so far in terms of enforcement, all of the enforcement powers that we have, the EDMO, the compulsory purchase order, the enforced sale order, none of those are designed to do empty homes work en masse. They're only designed to do and deal with empty homes individually, kind of on a case-by-case basis. That's why you'll only ever see a handful of them done, if at all, throughout a year. They're not designed to bring hundreds of empty homes back into use in one fell swoop. So, they are case by case; they have to be a last resort. That's the way that they're designed, that's the way that legislation deems for us to use them. With that in mind, and with the fact that all of these powers will only ever bring maybe 1 per cent or 2 per cent of properties back into use a year, we need more powers or we need more options. We need more solutions.
One of my famous quotes that people always quote me on is that if there are a million empty homes in England or if there are 25,000 empty homes in Wales, we actually need 25,000 different solutions because every home is different. Every property is different. Most importantly, every person's circumstance is different. So, we have to look at all of our options. We have to explore everything that we possibly can do, both from a local authority point of view, but also at a higher level, a Government level, to spread those options out, or at least increase the availability and suitability of options for empty homes.