1. Administrative Data Research Centre for England 1

2. Workshop on Synthetic Data ONS, Dec 2014 The Administrative Data Research Centre for England and The Role of Synthetic Data Dr Andy Cullis, Senior Data Scientist University of Southampton 2

3. Outline of talk  ESRC Big Data Initiative  What is the Administrative Data Research Network (ADRN)  What is the Administrative Data Research Centre for England (ADRC-E)  ADRC-E infrastructure  What is the process for using data in the ADRC-E?  Role of Synthetic data in the ADRC-E  ADRC-E Synthetic data requirements 3

4. ESRC’s Big Data Initiative  Administrative Data Task Force 2011-12  BIS awarded ESRC £64m for a Big Data Initiative  Phase 1 (started Oct 2013) Administrative Data Research Network (ADRN)  Five year funding project  Two other phases to come in 2014-15  Business and Local Authority Data Research Centres  Civil Society Data Partnership Projects 4

5. What is the Administrative Data Research Network (ADRN)  Four Administrative Data Research Centres (one in each country of the UK)  And an Administrative Data Service (ADS) – coordinates ADRN policies and procedures and key role in public engagement  Each ADRC is a partnership between academic institution(s) and respective national statistical organisations 5

6. What is the Administrative Data Research Centre for England (ADRC-E)  Led by the University of Southampton and run in collaboration with  The Office for National Statistics  University College London  The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine  The Institute for Fiscal Studies  The Institute for Education  Director: Peter Smith (University of Southampton) 6

7. ADRC-E Infrastructure  Access to the Office for National Statistics Virtual Microdata Laboratory facilities and secure research laboratories in Southampton (UoS) and London (UCL) for the analysis of de- identified linked administrative data  Staff –  Southampton - 2 data scientists and 3 Research Fellows  London - 2 data scientists and 2 Research Fellows  Plus staff in London, Southampton and ONS  who manage liaison across sites  responsible for public engagement  communications activities, user outreach & training  A team of academics providing advice and leading coordinated research programmes 7

8. What is the process for using data in the ADRC-E?  A researcher approaches the ADRN  Project accreditation/ethics/approval and data supplier  Data from suppliers linked by trusted (third) party (e.g. ONS)  Access to linked anonymised data granted within appropriate secure setting for analysis  All outputs vetted and approved  End of project - Data destroyed, documentation and syntax/code retained  Plain English summaries of research published 8

9. Role of Synthetic data in ADRC- E Why do we need synthetic data? Two perspectives: Researcher wishing to use linked data Data Scientist support the ADRC-E 9

10. Role of Synthetic data in ADRC-E Researcher wishing to use linked data Get a better understanding of the variables in the datasets Be able to prepare syntax/code Run exploratory models to help decide on feasibility of data linkage project 10

11. Role of Synthetic data in ADRC-E Data Scientist support at ADRC-E Enable us to get better understanding of potential Administrative data sources Understand the quality of the Administrative data to be used in projects Help in preparation of data to be uploaded in secure environment Advise researchers of potential issues with the Administrative data they hope to use 11

12. ADRC-E Synthetic data requirements What do we need Data synthesised to differing degree Regularly used administrative data Who holds these types of datasets? Where could it be accessed? 12