Researchers have been promised quicker access to a wider range of UK government-held data as part of the launch of the Integrated Data Service (IDS), which is likely to be opened to accredited academics early next year.
The cloud-based platform developed by the Office for National Statistics hopes to capitalise on the “revolution” in data-sharing fostered during the pandemic, which underlined the importance of allowing researchers based at higher education institutions access to crucial datasets to help shape government policy.
IDS, a successor to the Secure Research Service (SRS), will hold de-identified, linked datasets, reflecting the broad range of social and economic data held across government departments such as the Longitudinal Education Outcomes survey, which connects an individual’s education history with their employment and earnings over the years using a variety of information sources.
