News

ADMIN (Administrative Data – Methods, Inference and Network) is a research node of the ESRC National Centre for Research Methods.  They have just announced five courses on record linkage and the cleaning of administrative data as follows:

Record Linkage – Bill Winkler, U.S. Census Bureau, 8-9th September 2010, London

Cleaning Administrative Data: Improving Quality with Edit and Imputation – Bill Winkler, U.S. Census Bureau, 10th September 2010, London

Introduction to Data Linkage – John ‘Mac’ McDonald, 11th January 2011, Edinburgh

The Value of Data Linkage for Research – John ‘Mac’ McDonald, 12th January 2011, Edinburgh

Data Linkage: Methodological and Statistical Issues – Natalie Shlomo, 13th – 14th January 2011, Edinburgh

For more information on these courses please visit www.ncrm.ac.uk.

In a joint initiative, The Administrative Data Liaison Service, Office for National Statistics and the Secure Data Service are providing a programme of courses to help researchers to develop the skills and knowledge to responsibly use a variety of data resources in the UK for analysis and research.

The Safe Researcher Certificate (Administrative Data) is a one day training course provided by the ADLS.  The course will focus on UK administrative data, responsibilities of a safe researcher, creating safe settings and data security, administrative dataset good practice and understanding statistical disclosure control. At the end of the course delegates will:

• Develop the knowledge to make effective applications to organisations for administrative data.
• Understand the legal and security frameworks that surround administrative data research.
• Have a basic understanding of how to prepare, analyse and publish administrative data.
• Have a greater awareness of the range and utility of administrative data in the UK.

Course dates:  14th September 2010 at the Cathie Marsh Centre for Census and Survey Research, Manchester.  28th October 2010 at Cardiff University.  12th November 2010 at the Medical Research Council, London.  

All three venues are now sold out.  The ADLS anticipates re-runnning the courses again early next year.  Please register with us to receive more information nearer the time.

Course details:  Please click here for the course programme (PDF download).

Cost:  £35 including lunch (subsidised by the ESRC).

Booking:  Bookings have now closed for the course. 

This course has been endorsed by major administrative data holding organisations in the UK.  A researcher who has completed the course will have the awareness and knowledge to treat administrative data in a responsible manner, which is the basic requirement of any application to a data holder for access to their administrative data. 

Please feel free to contact the ADLS if you would like any further information on the course.  We hope to see you there.

The International Data Sharing Conference 2010 will seek to address some of the challenges of data sharing. It will bring together key figures from academia, research ethics committees and clinical practice to discuss how the increase in biobanks, data storage and access are changing scientific practice, as well as raising a number of technological, legal, ethical and social challenges for people working in the field of medical research.

The conference will use a conversation format, using panels focussed on specific questions to generate insights into these issues. Plenary sessions will focus on feedback, new technologies for data sharing, governance structures for research and safeguarding identifiability.

The Conference will take place between the 20th and 22nd September 2010 at St Hugh’s College, Oxford.  For more information and to register your place please click here.

The ADLS are keen to hear from you about all things related to administrative data.  Whether you want to tell us about your experiences of using administrative data, would like more information on a particular administrative dataset or are holding an administrative data related event then please get in touch with us. 

Please also register with us so you can receive the latest updates on administrative data and other ADLS news and events.

New powers are now before Parliament which may permit the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) to order data controllers to pay penalties up to £500,000 for serious breaches of the Data Protection Act (DPA) from 6 April 2010. The monetary penalty notices apply to serious contraventions of the DPA by all data controllers (except for Crown Estate Commissioners or persons specified by s.63(3) DPA) in the whole of the UK, in respect of contraventions on or after 6 April 2010.

For more information please download our guidance note here.

The Administrative Data Liaison Service held its launch event at the Royal Statistical Society on the 14th December 2009.  Chris Dibben (ADLS Director) provided background information on administrative data and the plans and objectives for this new and innovative service.  Social science reserachers and members of staff from government departments were in attendance to hear how the service will be of benefit to them. 

You can now watch the video of this presentation in full and see the slides by clicking here.   Please feel free to contact us with any questions that you may have once you have finished viewing.

ADMIN (Administrative Data – Methods, Inference and Network) is a research node of the ESRC national Centre for Research Methods.  They provide short courses on methods for the linkage of survey and administrative data, and also for the analysis of linked data and administrative data.

There are a range of courses available to attend in 2010.  For more information and to register please download their flyer here.