1. Development of UK Virtual Microdata Laboratory
Felix Ritchie

2. Plan of presentation Starting principles What we did, and the impact
New things we had to develop
security model, researcher management, SDC
What we’ve learnt
what matters, what doesn’t, what we’d do differently
Future directions

3. Starting principles Designed by researchers for research Expandable
maximum access, limited by law
Expandable
Secure at reasonable cost
Manageable at reasonable cost

4. What we did Central data repository and processors
Access via secured thin clients
Work space partitioned by dataset, not usage
researchers get access to dataset, not variables
No access to internet or rest of network
Same system for internal and external users

5. What we did - outcomes 30%-50% growth every year
Second only to UK Data Archive for social and economic research
Most important source for business data
Keystone of ONS Administrative Data Project
Total cost ~€450,000 per year
strategy 17%, fixed ops 65% variable ops 18%
income ~€55,000

6. New things developed (1) The VML Security Model
valid statistical purpose
trusted researchers
anonymisation of data
technical controls around data
disclosure control of results
safe projects +
safe people +
safe data +
safe setting +
safe outputs
 safe use

7. New things developed (2) Output statistical disclosure control
‘Standard’ SDC not appropriate
traditional rules not appropriate for research environments
SDC on data or methods pointless
Principles-based output SDC
SDC at the point of release
trained researchers
trained staff
agreement on principles and purpose
safe vs unsafe outputs, based on functional form

8. New things developed (3) Active researcher management
Need to develop shared objectives with researchers
Principles-based SDC needs buy-in from researchers
Reduced management costs
Compulsory training
SDC
VML objectives and constraints
legal and procedural background

9. What we’ve learnt (1) Things that matter
attitude to researchers
model of SDC
broad scale of operations
including future plans
scale of coherent networks
(for remote access)
eg ONS internal network, Government Secure Intranet, University Intranet, VPN?

10. What we’ve learnt (2) Things that don’t matter
Location of servers and users
Type of users
Type of data IT
Metadata
Specific legal/procedural framework?

11. What we’ve learnt (3) Things we would do differently
Prepare ONS for expansion
senior buy-in
IT planning
better data management
better user management
better metadata

12. Future directions Expansion across the government network
Supporting academic equivalent
VML facing massive internal increase in use
Developing international standards
Better communication
wikis, FAQs, common metadata system
metadata
Not being considered
remote job systems
synthetic data

13. Questions? Felix Ritchie felix.ritchie@ons.gsi.gov.uk

14. Old stuff – if necessary

15. The data model (1) ‘Spectrum’ of access points balancing
value of data
ease of use
disclosure risk
for a given level of confidentiality, maximise data use and convenience
no ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution
no absolute prohibitions
trade-off is made explicit
users determine appropriate level of access

16. Use of confidential data: the access spectrum
Type of access
None
VML
ONS sites
Govt sites
Secure data service
Special
licences
Licensed data archive
Internet
Anonymi-sation
Little
Complete
SDC of inputs
Restric-tions on users
Many
SDC of outputs
Examples:
Census data
Original data
Data for ONS linking
ONS contractor
Anon.
CD-ROM
Web tables
Enterprise data
Identified data for ONS linking
Identifiable data for analysis
Govt. users only
RDCs