This year’s highlights: ADR England – building research communities and opening access to education data

The ADR UK Annual Report 2023 – 2024 gathered key developments from across the partnership. Here are some highlights from ADR England.

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ADR UK's midterm evaluation

The work of ADR England was recognised in the recently published evaluation of the ADR UK programme, which showed that ADR UK is returning significant value to government and researchers. The evaluation report included a case study on the ADR England-funded Ministry of Justice Data First programme. The case study focused on the projected benefits of Data First in helping to understand the drivers of recidivism (the tendency to reoffend). You can read more about this work on page 27 of the summary report:

See the evaluation summary

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ADR England’s portfolio of research-ready data projects has delivered exciting developments this year, enhancing the breadth of ADR England flagship datasets available to accredited researchers.

The Ministry of Justice Data First: Cross-Justice System – England and Wales dataset was shared with the ONS Secure Research Service and the SAIL Databank, enabling analysis of cross-cutting questions about people’s experiences of the justice system. A sub-licence agreement with NHS England has enabled the ECHILD (Education and Child Health Insights from Linked Data – England) dataset to be made available for applications by all accredited researchers. A new dataset linking the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings to Pay As You Earn and Self Assessment data provided by HMRC will enhance understanding of the labour market in Britain.

ADR England’s portfolio of flagship datasets holds immense potential for research that benefits the public. This year it’s been fantastic to see their usability grow, enabling more researchers to realise the value of administrative data in generating vital insights to inform policy and practice. As new data linkages, tools and resources continue to emerge from our research-ready data projects, I’m looking forward to seeing this work translate into impact – across academia, government, and society as a whole.

Dr Emma Gordon - Director of ADR UK and ADR England

Policy-relevant research using ADR England datasets has also made great strides this year, through the growth of the ADR UK Research Fellowships.  A new cohort of 13 fellows were inducted for projects using ADR England flagship datasets, on policy-relevant topics ranging from green jobs to internal migration. The latest fellowships funding opportunity launched in February 2024; a further 13 successful applicants are undergoing the approvals process, bringing the expected total number of ADR UK Research Fellowships to 45. The ADR UK Strategic Hub has also facilitated the recruitment of two Evaluation Fellows to the Ministry of Justice this year. Funded by the Cabinet Office’s Evaluation Accelerator Fund, they are exploring the feasibility of using linked administrative data to evaluate the impact of justice services.

Meanwhile, Research Fellows and ADR England projects have been undertaking innovative public engagement to embed public good at the heart of their work. Activities have ranged from public materials to explain an address-matching tool, to rich engagement with communities to understand their unique perspectives and priorities.

This year has seen significant expansion of ADR England training and capacity building activities to support public good research. Increased and improved resources have been developed across ADR England’s growing range of flagship datasets, including for the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings linked to 2011 Census. ADR England-funded training courses have boosted skills for over 150 researchers in using the National Pupil Database – a key source of administrative data on education, skills and children’s services. The team has also funded courses on datasets spanning earnings, children's health and educational outcomes. By developing administrative data skills across the research community, ADR England’s work is enabling public good research to thrive.

I’m proud to share the progress we’ve made across ADR England’s work this year. The increasing number of applications for our research fellowship funding opportunities, coupled with the growing spread of research organisations represented, has allowed us to fund a diverse portfolio of research projects. Meanwhile our existing fellowships have come into fruition, with fellows disseminating their findings in innovative ways to generate impact. As our portfolio goes from strength to strength, I’m excited to continue our work to maximise the public good value of our investments.

-  Karen Powell - Head of Research Strategy and Commissioning for ADR England

ADR England Research Community Catalysts

This year the ADR UK team within the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) has worked in collaboration with co-funders to award two grants for ADR England Research Community Catalysts. These project teams, each focusing on a specific theme, are building self-sustaining, well-networked communities of researchers. Their aim is to provide strategic leadership, build research capacity and develop cross-sector communities to understand and address shared priorities.

Community catalyst for children at risk of poor outcomes

Co-funded by Foundations: The National What Works Centre for Children and Families:

Recent years have seen progress in improving the data landscape around children who come into contact with social services. However, researchers are not yet making full use of this data to address pressing policy questions.

This community catalyst is building a shared understanding of national research priorities and a community of better-equipped data users to address these issues.

Community catalyst for youth transitions

Co-funded by the Youth Futures Foundation and the Centre for Transforming Access and Student Outcomes in Higher Education:

Administrative data can enable important insights into young people’s journeys through education and beyond, however, the quality and availability data can be limited. This community catalyst is mapping existing data sources and identifying potential avenues for better data linkage. The catalyst will also be conducting a gap analyses of the literature and will then consult with stakeholders to develop a cross-sector research agenda. This will be based on a shared understanding of priority research gaps that could be filled with linked administrative data. Training sessions will be developed to help researchers understand and use the data for transition research. 

By building communities and improving the research landscape around these key issues, the community catalysts are facilitating a better evidence base to improve lives.

Department for Education Data Access and Engagement Programme

The Department for Education (DfE) Data Access and Engagement Programme, funded as part of the ADR England portfolio, has two aims:

1. To make DfE data more accessible to researchers, while ensuring that it is used responsibly, in accordance with relevant legislation and guidance
2. To develop dialogue between researchers and DfE about evidence needs for policy and practice.

DfE has made a wider range of datasets available this year, including a new iteration of the Longitudinal Education Outcomes dataset, and refreshes of the Ministry of Justice & DfE linked dataset and GRADE (Grading and Admissions Data for England). The programme has also supported and processed record numbers of applications to access DfE data. Find out how DfE shares data.

To support engagement with researchers, DfE updated its areas of research interest publication; the team is now reviewing the document and will update this further to reflect the requirements of the new UK Government. The team has also planned and begun an outreach programme bringing policy officials and external researchers together, fostering new partnership working and ultimately greater policy impact. This is supported by a new email inbox that makes it easier for external researchers to contact policy officials and analysts: research.engagement@education.gov.uk.

The programme is helping researchers to understand what evidence will have greatest policy impact, and helping ensure that policy advice is informed by the latest analysis. This work is cost-effective, increasing value from existing investment in administrative education data by providing new insights. These insights have the potential to inform decisions in education policy without further (expensive and time-consuming) data collection.

Read the full annual report