Supporting access to secure data: A review of procedures and practices

The UK Data Service Secure Lab is a remote access data enclave that enables researchers to access confidential and sensitive microdata that otherwise would not be easily available to use for academic purposes. Due to the confidential nature of the data, researchers must complete a number of necessary steps before being able to access data for analysis. Their subsequent use of the Secure Lab is highly controlled to meet security requirements, with UK Data Service staff carrying out a variety of work to support their activity, including statistical disclosure control checks of any outputs that have been produced. This work is highly resource intensive, and in this presentation we will outline how we have been reviewing all of this activity to make the secure lab more efficient and more sustainable for the longer term, while still maintaining a robust and reliable security model. As an increasing amount of sensitive data become available for use through other research data centres around the world, the experience of the UK Data Service will provide useful insights into how valuable data sources can be accessed in a safe and practical manner.