ONS
About the Office for National Statistics (ONS)
The ONS Secure Research Service celebrated 20 years of success in January. Over the last year, there have been approximately 800 projects running in the service, with around 1,800 researchers working on them. Of the 200 projects that have closed in the period, about half have already published outputs, including news items, blog posts, funded reports and working papers.
A major focus this year has been ONS’s support for ADR UK funding opportunities. The ADR UK PhD studentships cohort will enable 22 PhD students across the UK to access ADR UK flagship datasets. The ONS has supported students through online and in-person support events, assisting with applications and advising on the data available in the Secure Research Service.
Additionally, the ONS has played a significant role in the 2024 funding opportunity for ADR UK Research Fellowships. This involved reviewing applications, working with applicants, and striving to make new and exciting flagship datasets available. New and updated datasets in scope for the funding opportunity included the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings linked to PAYE and Self-Assessment data; the Administrative Data | Agricultural Research Collection; and the addition of a mother-baby link to the ECHILD (Education and Child Health Insights from Linked Data) dataset.
The ONS continues to develop the new Integrated Data Service, which will in time replace the existing Secure Research Service. It will offer greatly improved processing power and an increased range of integrated datasets that are built, linked, and maintained for richer analysis. The Integrated Data Service is focused on bringing more researchers and projects onboard, to help shape the service and ensure that it meets the needs of the research community.
The ONS is working closely with ADR UK to ensure that there is a smooth transition to the Integrated Data Service for existing Secure Research Service users.
A particular highlight for the ONS this year was our work as the lead partner for the fantastic ADR UK Conference held in November 2023, which brought together the ADR UK community of researchers, data owners and those running trusted research environments. The event demonstrated both the value of ADR UK’s investment to date by showcasing research findings from datasets created in previous years, as well as an opportunity to look forward to the exciting developments that are in the pipeline.
Research Excellence Series
The ONS Research Excellence Series hosts a fascinating range of talks showcasing exceptional research projects, which have been carried out using a diverse wealth of data. These projects produce new insights, inform change, and make a difference in people’s lives.
The Research Excellence Series was established in 2019 to help raise awareness of how data is being used. Each month, a virtual presentation explores the story of a unique research project, covering a wide range of societal issues. The series hosts an eclectic variety of speakers including ADR UK Research Fellows and previous winners of the ONS's Research Excellence Awards. For the 2024 series, a selection of presenters from the ADR UK Conference 2023 were invited back.
Over the last year the ONS has showcased nine inspiring projects, demonstrating the value of data sourced from different trusted research environments. The hour-long talks, where questions are raised, knowledge is increased, and ideas are exchanged, have attracted over 1,000 attendees over the last year, from across the research community. They continue to challenge ideas and raise the importance of research for the public good.
ADR UK Conference 2023
The ADR UK Conference 2023 took place in Birmingham, welcoming 400 researchers and other professionals involved in the use of administrative data for public good research. Delivered in partnership with the ONS, the event focused on the theme of “Public data for resilience and inclusion: Using administrative data to inform policy and practice in challenging times”.
From the beginning, the Scientific Committee agreed that changes to the economy, society and environment were key areas where insights from administrative data research could make a real difference. The conference provided an important opportunity to explore how resilience and inclusion could be increased through evidence-informed improvements to policy and practice.
As the lead partner for the conference, the ONS managed the logistics and led delivery of the essential elements that ensured the event was a success. Bringing the research community together over three days provided an opportunity for colleagues to meet in-person, seeing familiar faces and making new connections.
A packed agenda of workshops, keynote speeches, parallel sessions, and poster presentations created an engaging atmosphere, with discussions continuing afterwards over coffee and lunch. The event provided a space to connect people who share a passion for the importance of administrative data for research, and the valuable insights it can generate.
The conference was an extremely rewarding experience and the ONS team were thrilled to be part of such a successful event.
Transition to the Integrated Data Service
The ONS has worked closely with ADR UK to make several new ADR England flagship datasets available for research in the ONS Secure Research Service (SRS) this year:
- Administrative Data | Agriculture Research Collection
- Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings linked to PAYE and Self-Assessment data
- Data First: Cross-Justice System
- Education and Child Health Insights from Linked Data.
Crucially, the first ADR England flagship dataset has been made available through the Integrated Data Service (IDS) - Nursing and Midwifery Council Register linked to Census 2021.
With the ever-increasing scale and complexity of these population-level linked datasets, ONS will work closely with ADR UK to utilise the additional processing power and linkage capability offered by the IDS. The IDS hosts de-identified data using state of the art cloud-based technologies, with the vision that all data will be indexed and linkable to all other datasets, where data owners agree. These key innovations will enable users to connect to data where it is held, improving ease of access and analysis of integrated data assets.
The ONS is working closely with ADR UK in preparation for a smooth transition from the SRS to the IDS, with planning underway to set clear timelines to data owners, users and stakeholders. As a key strategic partner of the ONS, ADR UK will continue to fund the creation of new, linked administrative datasets and research using these resources, throughout the transition from the SRS to the IDS. Together, the ONS and ADR UK will work to ensure the delivery of a service that meets the continued needs of researchers.
About the Office for National Statistics
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) plays a crucial role in sourcing, linking, and curating public sector data for ADR UK, ensuring that data is accessed by researchers safely and securely. The ONS Secure Research Service is the trusted research environment for ADR England. With the support of ADR UK funding, the service has continued to expand, improve and increase the range of administrative data available to accredited researchers, enabling research for the public good.