Introducing the Integrated Data Service
What is the Integrated Data Service?
ONS are leading in the delivery of an Integrated Data Service (IDS) in collaboration with partners across government.
Under robust security and ethical protocols and through a trusted research environment, the IDS will enable analysts to access, link, analyse and disseminate a range of data. The IDS builds on the success of the Secure Research Service, which has successfully and securely hosted de-identified data over 15 years.
The IDS will be open to accredited researchers to carry out analysis that addresses major societal challenges.
What are the timelines for delivering the IDS?
The IDS is currently in the Private Beta stage of development, with additional functionality being rolled out iteratively. In July, the Initial Public Beta will be launched – this will allow us to expand the capability from 40 users to around 160 users. Full Public Beta will launch by the end of the year, with further iterative development planned into the New Year.
How will this affect me as a user of the SRS?
The IDS is building on the foundations of the SRS and will, in time, replace the current service. We will undertake a phased transition from the SRS to the IDS once the IDS is fully functional and operating smoothly.
We will keep you updated with progress on the development of the IDS – a new website is in development, as well as a standalone IDS newsletter - but in the meantime you should continue to use the SRS as you do at present.
How will the IDS differ from the SRS?
- Technology - IDS will be able to exploit state of the art cloud-based infrastructure and technologies that are not available in the existing SRS. It will be more scalable and offer improved processing power.
- Data - IDS will provide a framework for more controlled access to an increased range of integrated datasets that are built, linked and maintained for richer analysis.
- Access – IDS will provide more streamlined arrangements to give quicker access to data, especially for government analysts seeking to use government data. Arrangements will continue to follow current processes in line with the Five Safes Framework.
- Dissemination – IDS will provide a new service, that will open up new methods of dissemination of Statistical Disclosure Control (SDC) cleared outputs to a wider set of audiences.
ONS remain a committed member of the Economic and Social Research Council’s ADR UK partnership, and as such will be continuing to work with ADR UK to open up secure access to data for external researchers throughout and beyond this transition.
For any further questions, or comments in general, please reach out to the team at IDS.Comms@ons.gov.uk
Safe Room announcement
At the end of September, as part of the wider consolidation of the Civil Service estate, ONS will be moving from their current central London office location in Drummond Gate, into a consolidated government owned facility in Marsham Street.
Due to the security and operational constraints associated with this process, the current SRS Safe Room facility at Drummond Gate will not be moving to Marsham Street and will be decommissioned at its current location.
Following this announcement, the ONS will make contact with the researchers and organisations who are routinely using Drummond Gate Safe Room, to understand the practical impact of these changes and the future provision of SRS access within Central London.
SRS Safe Rooms in Newport and Titchfield will continue to be available, and all rooms are now operating at full capacity following the lifting of Covid restrictions.
More details will be supplied once these consultations have taken place.
For further questions, or comments in general, please email srs.customer.support@ons.gov.uk
SRS Housekeeping
Please can all SRS users ensure they sign out of the environment when finishing their session. Disconnecting or allowing sessions to time out, rather than signing out properly can affect the running of the whole system and cause issues for other users. The only exception is when you may need to leave long running code (for example overnight), in which case you should disconnect. In all other instances please ensure you have signed out properly.
Statistical Support update
With immediate effect Statistical Support will be taking over the receipt of all output clearances for all SRS projects, these now need to be sent to Statistical.Support@ons.gov.uk.
Researchers need to send all internal pre-publication and publication output requests as well as external publication output requests to the Stats Support team. This is not to be confused with any ingest requests which still need to be sent to srs.customer.support@ons.gov.uk.
Similarly all Longitudinal Study related requests are unaffected by this change and continue to be handled by the Celsius Team.
The ONS website will contain further updates in the coming weeks.
Labour Market Statistics user engagement survey
One last reminder that the Labour Market Statistics user engagement survey closes on Wednesday 29th June. The ONS is undertaking an ambitious transformation programme to improve labour market statistics through survey transformation and increased use of data from administrative and other sources.
For more information, please go to: Making everybody count: How we’re transforming the Labour Force Survey | National Statistical (ons.gov.uk)
Transformation of Annual Business Survey and Annual Purchases Survey
On Monday 20 June the ONS launched a user engagement exercise for the Annual Business Survey (ABS) and Annual Purchases Survey (APS). We are currently carrying out a detailed review of these surveys which includes our applied methodology, questionnaires used and the data collected. We want to understand more about our users’ experiences of ABS & APS outputs to help us understand:
- What data are most useful
- What data gaps currently exist
- What impacts any changes we implement may have
If you would like to provide your input and any comments then we invite you to complete the survey online or email the team at Annuals.Development@ons.gov.uk
New datasets in the SRS
Virus Watch
We are pleased to announce that the Virus Watch dataset is now available in the SRS Metadata Catalogue.
Find out more in the Dataset of the Month article below.
Dataset of the Month
The Virus Watch dataset stems from a research study run by University College London and the NHS. This is a community cohort study of COVID-19 that contains laboratory data as well as data that has been collected via weekly and monthly surveys. It is one of a small number of studies nationally identified by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) as an Urgent Public Health COVID-19 Study. The data will help to inform NHS planning and the national public health response.
The dataset contains basic demographic information including sex, date of birth, age, and ethnicity. It also includes socioeconomic status and details of the household structure and income. It also contains information about activities, social distancing and contact with others during the pandemic with weekly/monthly follow up data also available.
Health data is also included such as existing medical conditions (general and COVID-related) and access to health services during the pandemic. This includes antibody test results for a subset of participants including nucleocapsid and spike antibody levels and PCR results from participants from the at home COVID testing for Virus Watch.
Each month additional bespoke questions have been asked in the monthly surveys to inform important policy questions, such as:
- Vaccination intentions
- Household overcrowding status
- Occupational health data
- Changes to income and employment
Accredited Researchers can access this de-identified dataset within the ONS Secure Research Service.
If you want to access the Virus Watch dataset within the ONS SRS, please contact the SRS Customer Support team: srs.customer.support@ons.gov.uk
Case Study of the Month
Understanding progress in the 2020-21 academic year
Using the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Secure Research Service (SRS), researchers analysed online assessment data provided by Renaissance Learning from over 5,000 schools linked with the National Pupil Database (NPD). Matching this data is providing insight into academic progress and is exposing socio-demographic inequalities experienced by pupils. This research has already informed a government funding programme to increase progress in certain schools. It has the potential to further inform education policies and help target interventions to support those who have missed out the most due to the pandemic.
To find out more, please visit the ADR UK website.
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