Administrative Data Research Centre - Scotland

Administrative data (that is, information collected primarily for administrative purposes) has long contributed to central government and other statistics. However in the last 15-20 years, technological advancement has seen something of a revolution with the formation of very large administrative databases held by central and local government, and by specialist agencies across the UK. The existence of such databases raises the possibility that administrative data could become, in an annoymised form, a core resource for social science academic research. Many northern European countries (notably Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden) are further ahead in this regard, as they have placed much greater emphasis on developing national 'register data' from the 1980s onwards, to replace national censuses and major surveys. For example, Statistics Denmark now bases most of its national statistics on 'register data' which can be linked both longitudinally and between registers of different types (e.g. health, education, income). Datasets with very similar potential now exist in the UK. They represent a rich potential research resource for the UK social science research community. However, on the whole, the academic social science community in the UK has had difficulty gaining access to these potential powerful datasets for a variety of reasons. In 2011 the Administrative Data Taskforce was formed with the 'aim of improving access to and linkage between government administrative data for research and policy purposes'. One of its recommendations was the formation of Administrative Data Research Centres (ADRC) in each of the countries of the UK. A Scottish ADRC will aim to make de-identified data available for research that will produce internationally important findings and guide the development, implementation and evaluation of policy. It will particularly focus on building trust between data providers, researchers and the public and will adopt the highest international standards of governance, professional practise and public engagement. The ADRC will have a core service that will: - provide state-of-the-art facilities for research access to de-identified administrative data by accredited researchers - provide data management and statistical analysis support functions for external researchers accessing the data - engage in training, capacity building, and public engagement and a set of developmental work packages that will: - conduct original research using linked administrative data and important analytical and methodological approaches that support the creation of research useful datasets - Explore important aspects of the legal environment and public acceptability of the new linkages that the ADRC's will naturally be engaged with it will do this through - A support unit providing researchers with a single, initial point of contact for the Scottish ADRC - A central team of data scientists - researching administrative datasets and supporting researchers through the support unit - A wide circle of collaborating academics - covering the spectrum of administrative data holding sectors driving forward the data scientists (central team) and bespoke research projects - A wider circle of academics/ researchers supported, trained and engaged by the ADRC