Transforming data usage across government

The world is becoming more connected and data usage is transforming across the globe. The Integrated Data Service (IDS) looks to keep pace with this change with an ambitious and transformational programme. At the heart of it, this service will provide government analysts and accredited researchers with “ready-to-use” data to enable faster and wider collaborative analysis for the public good.

Delivering this service is key to enabling the government’s National Data Strategy, which, through its missions, seeks to unlock the value of data across the economy. We are very happy with the progress made so far, with the IDS boasting around 150 users from a range of departments, as well as 30 datasets, with these numbers growing every month.

The transformation we are leading is enabled by a secure and scalable multicloud technology. This platform allows us to bring together data for wider collaboration and analysis, which in turn can lead to smarter policy decisions, and ultimately better outcomes for the public. Before, this could have taken months, and sometimes years to achieve, whereas the IDS could soon bring together a range of data around climate, or the economy, and much more.

Research ready format

With the IDS platform, we can streamline this data and have it ready for government analysts in a research ready format, removing the friction which would have previously existed, while also reducing the cost of data sharing. This unlocks the potential for more informed, data driven policy to be introduced, and at pace.

The use of data has dramatically changed in recent times, as it has become “the world’s most valuable commodity” according to The Economist. With this increase in value comes an opportunity to improve the efficiency with which we store and use data.

This is where the IDS will play a critical role in transforming the way in which we use our data.

This ground-breaking programme aims to transform the way data are held, using a three-step process which provides the opportunity to access data in situ, through IDS, as well as offering data suppliers transformational ways of sharing their data.

Firstly, the service must ensure that it meets all data handling, legislation, and ethics standards. In order to introduce the full live service, IDS must first become an accredited platform under the Digital Economy Act (DEA), which is an imminent milestone. Gaining accreditation under the DEA means that the service can be considered a Trusted Research Environment (TRE). In simple terms, to be recognised as a TRE a service must meet five criteria that ensures data are used and held safely.

These five criteria are known as the Five Safes of secure data. These are as follows:

Safe People: Trained and accredited researchers are trusted to use data appropriately. 

Safe Projects: Data are only used for valuable, ethical research that delivers clear public benefits.

Safe Settings: Access to data is only possible using IDS secure technology systems.

Safe Outputs: All research outputs are checked to ensure they cannot identify data subjects. 

Safe Data: Researchers can only use data that have been de-identified 

These last two criteria will be particularly important for data suppliers, who will want to know that the data is unidentifiable. The IDS recognises the importance of ensuring anonymity, and this is at the heart of what makes this programme truly transformational. In order to ensure the data holds no identifiable information, IDS will use a model known as the Reference Data Management Framework (RDMF), which de-identifies the data by removing personal information such as names and addresses, while adding unique identifiers to the data against a number of indexes, including business and address, enabling data to be joined by the user for richer analysis, with mitigation of identification.

Services delivered by ONS

We understand the magnitude of this programme and the work required to ensure it transforms data use, but we are happy with the progress made so far, as part of the government’s modernisation agenda. This is no easy feat, but the Office for National Statistics (ONS) are the right delivery partner for the job, having already operated the largest trusted research environment (Secure Research Service) in the UK for 15 years. The IDS will represent the next generation of services delivered by ONS, enabling faster and deeper analysis for the public good.   

We are also aware that this is only the beginning, and we can’t wait for the next steps. Moving forward, we expect to gain accreditation for the platform under the Digital Economy Act (DEA) within the next few months, which will give data suppliers more confidence in using the platform to share their data. Following this, our attention will turn towards increasing the number of users on the platform, with an overall target of reaching 1,500 users by March 2024.

The hope is that by taking stakeholders through the journey of our vision, we can clearly show the route forward for safe, secure data usage. The value of data is on an inevitable upward trajectory, but thanks to the transformational work of the Integrated Data Service, they will soon be able to bring data together securely, so that policy solutions are readily available as soon as issues arise.