Eastern England SDE Researcher Statistical Disclosure Control SOP

This document explains how researchers working in the Eastern England Secure Data Environment (EE‑SDE) should prepare their work before requesting to take results out of the secure platform. The EE‑SDE contains sensitive information therefore, any charts, tables, summaries or written outputs must be checked to ensure they cannot reveal information about individuals or small groups. This process is known as Statistical Disclosure Control (SDC).

Researchers are responsible for reviewing their outputs before submitting egress requests. They must check for different types of disclosure risk, such as results that could identify someone directly, reveal sensitive attributes about small groups, or become disclosive when combined with other previously released outputs. This document provides guidance on what to look for and suggests using Statbarn for method‑specific risk advice.

Where possible, researchers can use ACRO, an automated tool that helps identify disclosure risks in outputs generated in Python or R. However, automated checks do not replace the need for a manual review.

Once outputs are ready, researchers follow a defined Airlock process. Two independent reviewers assess each request to ensure the results are safe and aligned with the approved project. If approved, the outputs are released; if not, they must be amended and resubmitted.