Felix Ritchie (Office for National Statistics, UK)

Access to business data in the UK: The regulatory context for government collections

The UK approach to official statistics in general and business data in particular has evolved over the centuries into a compartmentalised system, where data can be shared between interested parties but only under certain specified rules and conditions. Use of data is tightly controlled but flexible enough to provide ways to access the data for research purposes. The Statistics of Trade Act 1947, which governs most of the surveys of business, reflects this approach to confidential data.

In recent years ONS has reviewed the use it makes of its large data archives, and is now putting in place systems to provide access to microdata. These are at an early stage of development and so several legal and procedural issues need to be resolved, but it is intended that these systems will provide a firm and secure basis for permanent access arrangements.

Session: 4b   Room 2002   Category: Data access: Contexts and solutions

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