SIM 3 Wales: Maximising the use of existing administrative and survey data sets for Wales

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The over-arching aim of the project is to review options for improving secure access to detailed administrative and survey data for Wales for research purposes. The first stage of the substantive research programme will be to describe the different surveys and administrative sources of data available within Wales building upon existing data audits and information held by the WG. The accessibility of these sources for the purposes of research will also be established in consultation with data custodians. How queries regarding the data are currently handled and how the governance arrangements surrounding applications to use the data are managed will be assessed. Where relevant, these arrangements will be compared to the arrangements that exist for comparable sources of data available elsewhere in the UK. An important aspect of the review will also be to identify sources of data that are potentially unique to Wales or where innovative links can be made to develop new sources. This will draw upon the findings of the other placement fellowships. The second stage of the research programme will examine the potential benefits of improving access to the data sources identified in the audit. Existing users of this data (or similar data) will be consulted as to their perceptions regarding the potential usefulness of Welsh data. Those to be consulted will be identified from or through the membership of Thematic Reference Groups established by the Wales Institute for Social and Economic Research Data and Methods (WISERD). If the data audit identifies a source of data that is unique to Wales or potentially unique source of data that could be developed through data linking, researchers active in the field of study will be asked to consider whether their academic discipline could benefit from such data. The review will highlight areas where improved access to Welsh data or where opportunities for enhancing existing data may be expected to lead to significant benefits to the research community. The third stage will identify the barriers to improving access to Welsh data. Barriers to access may simply be due to a lack of awareness among data custodians of the mechanisms for data access which are available or of the potential benefits that access to their data could yield. However, there may also be costs associated with providing access to data, such as the construction of analytical datasets, the development of supporting documentation or in supporting the complex governance arrangements surrounding access. These issues will be investigated through discussions with the owners and custodians of different data sets in order to provide a detailed understanding of the constraints faced.The final stage of the research programme will identify the best ways to improve access to potentially disclosive data. The recommendations will seek to maximise the benefits that can be achieved from the greater utilisation of existing ESRC funded investments, such as the UKDA, SDS or ADLS. In other cases, the barriers to access may be greater. Here, recommendations will reflect on the lessons learnt from initiatives developed elsewhere in the UK to provide research access to highly sensitive data. Experts from these bodies will be identified and invited to form the basis of a consultative group whose knowledge can be drawn upon in the development of these recommendations. The research programme will culminate in a report that provides a detailed review of Welsh data sources. Specific action plans that outline the steps that would need to be taken to improve access to different data sets will also be provided. In each case, key contacts and bodies that can support data custodians in implementing these measures will be identified. In addition to data specific recommendations, protocols will also be developed in order to provide a suggested uniform approach to data access policy that can be implemented across WG and related bodies.