The UK government holds vast datasets on its citizens—census records, school grades, benefit claims, hospital visits, crime reports—but these are locked away in separate silos, rarely linked together for research. CADRE (the Centre for Administrative Data Research & Evaluation) will build secure facilities and develop methods to safely connect these datasets so approved researchers can study how issues like education, employment, and health interact. The problem is that linking sensitive personal data carries serious privacy risks, and current infrastructure cannot handle this at scale across the whole UK. If CADRE succeeds, researchers will gain a rich, anonymised resource to answer questions that single datasets cannot address—for example, whether a training programme actually reduces unemployment, or how housing conditions affect children’s school performance. The centre will also set new governance standards, train policy-makers, and engage the public to ensure data use remains ethical and trusted. This is primarily an infrastructure and methods project: it does not itself answer a specific research question, but it will enable a wide range of future studies that could improve public services and policy decisions across the UK.
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Administrative data is the term used to refer to the datasets collected by the Government and other public bodies which, amongst other things, is used to generate information to guide policy and the development of public services. Some examples are the Census and National Household Surveys, and datasets about education, health and social services, employment and benefits, crime, housing, the environment and the economy. These datasets hold great value for research, especially if they are linked together. However, as information about individuals is very sensitive, it must be very carefully managed so that it is anonymous, safe and secure, and used only in the public interest by approved researchers. Data linkage research is the term applied to the development of methods of bringing datasets together and linking them so that important public issues (such as education, crime and employment) can be studied in relation to each other. There are a range of techniques to make sure that the linked datasets used by researchers are kept anonymous throughout. The Centre for Administrative Data Research & Evaluation (CADRE) is a powerful new centre specialising in making UK-wide administrative data safely available for research. CADRE has a strong team, with a wealth of experience in data linkage and in economic and social research. CADRE will work closely with CIPHER (the Centre for the Improvement of Population Health through E-records Research), in a new, purpose-designed building, massively increasing the opportunities for research to benefit people and society. The main aim of CADRE is to create a world-class administrative data research centre, that is widely known for its ability to access, link and make safe use of data for high quality research. Our work will be underpinned by a robust Governance framework. This means that we will follow all the rules, laws and regulations that govern data usage, and set many new standards, so that our work is always ethical and respects the rights and privacy of individuals and organisations. CADRE has a set of objectives are these are to: 1. Provide powerful, robust, state-of-the art data linkage and data access facilities. This will include highly secure 'safe rooms' where researchers will work on the data. 2. Run a high quality, equitable and efficient 'customer focused' user support service, free at the point of access, ensuring that the analytical opportunities provided by CADRE are accessible to the widest possible community of researchers 3. Create a rich linked administrative data resource for the UK research community, by enabling datasets from different organisations to be used together safely. 4. Carry out original research using linked administrative data. This will include developing new methods for data linkage, working with government, law and ethics bodies on the Governance of data use, and working with the general public and organisations to understand their views on data linkage. We will work with other researchers to answer important social and economic research questions. 5. Provide a range of high-quality training and development opportunities for researchers, public service professionals and policy makers. 6. Involve members of the public in the work of CADRE, and engage with the public to raise awareness of data linkage research, to understand the concerns they may have, and to seek to provide reassurance. 7. Build good working relationships and collaborations within the Administrative Data Research Network (ADRN), with Welsh Government, other UK governments, and their National Statistical Agencies (NSAs), the economic and social science research community and health researchers.
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