Digital Economy Act: Research and Statistics Powers

Research

Chapter 5 of Part 5 of the Digital Economy Act facilitates the linking and sharing of de-identified data by public authorities for accredited research purposes to support valuable new research insights about UK society and the economy. The UK Statistics Authority is the statutory accrediting body responsible for the accreditation of processors, researchers and their projects.

Before data can be shared for research purposes, it must be processed by an accredited processor so that the data is ‘de-identified’. When the data has been de-identified it can be made available to an accredited researcher in a secure environment, and the processor will ensure that any data (or any analysis based on the data) retained by the researcher, or are published, are ‘disclosure controlled’ to minimise the risk of data subjects being re-identified or other misuses of the data.

All projects involving access to data for research purposes will use the Digital Economy Act Research power or the Statistics and Registration Service Act’s Approved Researcher gateway. Projects will be accredited using the Research Code of Practice and Accreditation Criteria, which was approved by the UK Parliament in July 2018.

As the statutory accrediting body, the UK Statistics Authority has established a Research Accreditation Panel to oversee the independent accreditation of processors, researchers and research projects. Further information for processors and researchers is available using the links below. The Research Accreditation Panel meets regularly and a list of future meetings is available.

Research Accreditation Panel

The Research Accreditation Panel provides oversight of the framework that is used to accredit research projects, researchers and processing environments under the Digital Economy Act 2017 (DEA) and the Approved…

Accessing Data via the Research Accreditation Framework

The following legal gateways allow accredited and approved researchers to access data for research and statistical purposes. The Digital Economy Act 2017 (DEA) (Part 5, Chapter 5) includes an important…

Digital Economy Act Accredited Processing Environments

Under the Research framework in the Digital Economy Act 2017, before data can be shared for research purposes, it must be processed by an accredited processor so that the data…

Statistics

Chapter 7 of Part 5 of the Digital Economy Act amended the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 to provide the UK Statistics Authority (and ONS as its executive office) with greater and easier access to data held within the public and private sectors to support the statutory functions of the Statistics Authority in the production of official statistics and statistical research.

These provisions bring the legal framework governing the production and publication of official statistics and statistical research in the UK into line with that of the UK’s international partners, supporting ongoing improvements in the quality, relevance and timeliness of official statistics in a changing world.

In 2016, the UK Statistics Authority published a paper setting out the requirements for new legislation.

The Statistics framework in the Digital Economy Act is underpinned by the Statistics Statement of Principles and code of practice on changes to data systems, which was approved by the UK Parliament in July 2018.

Ethics: One of these principles is that we will ensure that data access arrangements observe the relevant ethical standards, for example the Ethical Principles of the National Statistician’s Data Ethics Advisory Committee, making sure at all times that these arrangements support us in the exercise of our statutory functions, including the delivery of official statistics and statistical research that serve a clear public interest. More information on the work of the National Statistician’s Data Ethics Advisory Committee is available on the UK Statistics Authority website.

Transparency: Another principle is to maintain Transparency around the data sources that the Office for National Statistics holds to support its statutory functions, including data sources that have been obtained under the Digital Economy Act’s statistics framework. A list of data sources is available on the ONS website and is updated regularly.

Key Links

Statistics Statement of Principles and Code of Practice on changes to data systems