Service updates
Limited service announcements
Reduced support service - Tuesday 5 December
We will be operating with reduced support for the Secure Research Service (SRS) on Tuesday 5 December due to staff training.
Our customer support email service will have limited cover, and other customer-facing teams will be operating with reduced staff.
Users will be able to access their projects in the SRS as normal, and researchers can continue to use the Research Accreditation Service (RAS) on this date, however we may not be able to respond to queries until the following day.
Full service will resume as normal on Wednesday 6 December.
Should you have any questions or special requirements for this date, please contact SRS Customer Support as soon as possible.
Advance notice of limited service over the Christmas holidays
Over the Christmas holidays, we will be operating with reduced support for the SRS from 16:00 Thursday 21 December. Our full support service will reopen at 08:00 Tuesday 02 January.
Further information about this reduced support service will be sent in the coming weeks.
Monthly maintenance
The SRS will be unavailable for use on Saturday 25 November between 07:00 and 11:00 for monthly maintenance.
Important reminder: researcher and SQL access
Due to the recent upgrades made to the SRS, the naming conventions of our Structured Query Language (SQL) servers have been changed. This will only affect users who utilise SQL databases. If you are one of these users, please see the login information below on how to connect to your new server:
C1VMLSQL06v - (Previously C1VMLSQL01v)
C1VMLSQL07v - (Previously C1VMLSQL02v)
C1VMLSQL08v - (Previously C1VMLSQL04v)
Introducing our new access level classification
We have introduced a new classification system to help existing and new projects understand how they are able to access their data in the SRS.
Every dataset in the catalogue has an access level from Level 0 to Level 3:
- Level 0 – Safe room only
- Level 1 – Safe room and SafePod only
- Level 2 – Safe room, SafePod, and AOC office access
- Level 3 – Safe room, SafePod, AOC office access and AOC remote (home) access
Further details on this change, Assured Organisational Connectivity (AOC) and other access guidance can be found in the SRS Metadata Catalogue FAQ and on the ONS SRS Website.
Researcher requested Outputs, Ingests, Transfers, and CRN Matching
Longer turnaround times for researcher requested actions (Outputs, Ingests, Transfers and Company Registration Number (CRN) Matching) are ongoing. As the SRS heads towards transition to the new Integrated Data Service (IDS) we are working hard to manage the continuing high demand from researchers for output clearances, matching, and project specific ingests. We apologise for any disruption that this may be causing some of you.
Since May’s SRS Newsletter we have requested that you allow at least 10 working days for requests to be completed. While we are still aiming to turn clearances around as quickly as possible, you may find that, depending on the complexity of your request and our current workload, it may take longer. Recent average clearance times have been closer to 15 working days.
If estimated completion times are to severely impact the final publication of your research please contact us to discuss.
Before submitting any request, please ensure that you have applied all necessary disclosure control and governance standards to your work.
SRS to IDS transition
Plans to transition from the SRS to the IDS continue to develop, with testing underway for a new trial platform. When launched, this initiative will allow users to test a separate version of the IDS without access to any sensitive or identifiable data. We will keep users updated about this initiative and invite you to take part when it is open for access.
The IDS Triage process is now operational where all new SRS project applications are assessed for their suitability to begin in the IDS, where the data and tools are available to do so. In future editions of the newsletter, we will feature some information about projects that have progressed in IDS as examples of how the new platform can be used for research and analysis.
Lastly, conversations about the IDS tooling offer are ongoing, with the developers of STATA currently engaged in discussions with IDS development team about potential solutions to meet the needs of researchers in the platform. Look out for further newsletter updates to keep informed of the latest information.
New datasets available in the SRS
Longitudinal Education Outcomes iteration 2
We are pleased to announce a new iteration of the Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) dataset is now available, including additional years of data and introducing new linked datasets. More information can be found in the communication that we sent out earlier this month.
Further Education Workforce Data Collection - England
Further education providers in England were asked to provide details about the staff employed at their establishment during the 2021 to 2022 academic year.
Online Time Use Survey - Great Britain
The Online Time Use Survey (OTUS) was developed by the ONS; this is to help improve the measurement of unpaid household production and caring activities that are not captured within traditional economic measures, and to better understand time use from a well-being and quality of life perspective.
Case Study of the Month
Evaluating the impact of alcohol minimum unit pricing on deaths and hospitalisations in Scotland
In May 2018, Scotland implemented a minimum unit price for alcoholic drinks sold in licensed premises. A research study using secure data estimated that this policy significantly reduced deaths wholly attributable to alcohol consumption by 13.4%. On average, it averted 156 deaths wholly attributable to alcohol consumption each year.
This study received significant media coverage, and the attention of the Public Health Minister for Scotland. In August 2023, senior UK public health published a letter of support for the main research finding.
SRS Metadata Catalogue retrospective
In March, we provided insights into how the SRS Metadata Catalogue was being used since it launched. We found that Growing Up in England (GUiE) was the dataset most searched for, and the dataset record was the second highest page viewed in our collection. ONS business datasets were also frequently searched for and viewed.
We’re back again with further insights, looking back on the six months between March and September of this year, when we celebrated the first anniversary of the Metadata Catalogue’s launch.
Business datasets are by far the most used within the SRS. Across the same period, 136 live projects (508 researchers) requested BSD, with a further 120 and 108 requested ABS and ASHE respectively. These three business datasets are often used within projects in SRS that have been commissioned by government to inform and evaluate policy. We recently undertook a review of public sector commissioned projects, investigating which datasets and statistical methods were being used in the SRS for this type of policy-related work, as well as the impact the work had.
News from our partners
ADR UK
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ADR UK Conference 2023
 The ADR UK Conference 2023, in partnership with the ONS, took place last week from 14 to 16 November. The event focused on the theme of Public data for resilience and inclusion: Using administrative data to inform policy and practice in challenging times and brought together 400 researchers and other professionals working in the use of data for the public good.
You can read all the highlights including keynotes speakers, award winners and reflections from the conference on the ADR UK news and blog section of their website.
Regular maintenance to the SRS
To allow your code to run effectively and without interruption, please avoid running your analyses during these times:
Weekly maintenance
All servers are rebooted between 07:00 and 07:30 every Monday morning and the SRS will not be accessible during these times.
Monthly maintenance
Updates are applied on the final Saturday of every month between 07:00 and 11:00. The SRS will not be accessible for the duration of this maintenance.
Dates for monthly maintenance 2023
- Saturday 25 November
- Saturday 30 December
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