The ADRC-W and Data Linking – a Welsh

Government perspective

ADRC-W launch, March 23rd 2015

Glyn Jones

Prif Ystadegydd, Llywodraeth Cymru

Chief Statistician, Welsh Government

• Our role in the ADRN

• Data linking activity to date

• Current projects

• The future

Our role in the ADRN

• Board member

• Strategic partner to ADRC-W

• Data supplier

• Research commissioner

• Useful links to stakeholders

Past data linking activity

Demonstration projects

Education data linking programme

School

Census

Examination

results

Assessment

results

Attendance

records

Post-16

destinations

Higher

Education

Employment

Careers

Wales

SAIL -

Health

Education

Maintenance

Allowance

Consent to link question on surveys

UK Longitudinal

Studies

WG or Wales

Surveys

Data linking: reflections

Huge potential benefits:

• Creation of retrospective baselines and control groups

• Ability to research hard to reach groups

• Potential to research rare groups or small areas

• Long-term follow-up without expensive ‘keeping in touch’

• Potential to replace, reduce or better target surveys

• With routine data flows can deliver ongoing routine outputs

But plenty of challenges….

Current projects

ADRC-W Training Projects:

• Health and Education Impacts of Flying Start

• Social and Health Impacts of Participation in Sports

• Feasibility of Creating an Individual Deprivation Score

WG-ESRC Funded Projects / Programmes:

• The health outcomes of home energy efficiency interventions

• Feasibility of delivering an evaluation of Supporting People

• PhD Studentship: Disability & the Labour Force

• Feasibility report on delivering indicators for social care

Looking forward

• Understanding poverty

• Routine research access to our education data

• Supporting evaluations of ESF programmes

• Other topics….housing, Welsh Language, crime?

• New approach to surveys

• Promoting wider public sector engagement –

supporting public service reform and Future

Generations developments

A Government Statistical Service

perspective

• Statistical analysts acting under common professional standards to

provide independent, authoritative and impartial statistics

• Key strategic aim for the profession is extracting greater value from

government’s administrative data resources

• ADRN provides:

– a framework for Government Statisticians to work in partnership with

leading academic research practitioners

– a technical infrastructure and ‘safe harbour’ for working with data that

enjoys public trust and independence

• ADRN also provides an environment to develop Data Science

practices for downstream application in government

• Profession will collaborate to support the effectiveness of the

ADRN across the UK

Using data linking and admin data as a routine

method of answering evidence needs

Big data Surveys Admin data

Data linking

Statistical data collections

Sharing data

Research Census Estimation/modelling

Diolch am wrando

Thanks for listening

Glyn Jones

Chief Statistician/Prif Ystadegydd

Glyn.jones@wales.gsi.gov.uk

gov.wales/statistics or llyw.cymru/ystadegau

Twitter: @statisticswales or @ystadegaucymru