Trusted research environments

Each ADR UK national partnership, as well as the Office for National Statistics (ONS), has a dedicated trusted research environment through which approved researchers can access de-identified administrative data.

Trusted research environments (TREs) (also known as secure data environments) are highly secure computing environments containing de-identified data.

Many operate under the principles of the Five Safes framework. Researchers and their projects must go through the TRE's rigorous accreditation process to access and use this data.

You can explore the different characteristics of each trusted research environment in the ADR UK partnership below.

ONS Secure Research Service

The service	The ONS Secure Research Service (SRS) gives accredited or approved researchers secure access to de-identified, unpublished data for research projects in the public interest.
Advantages	The SRS is an access point for all data held within ONS for statistical purposes, where there is also agreement to share the data for research (some datasets are UK-wide, others are Great Britain, England and Wales, or England only).
Conditions	Only de-identified data is made available in the SRS. Linkage on identifiable data can only be done by processors accredited under the Digital Economy Act (DEA) 2017 for the preparation of data (i.e. the ability to receive data for matching, linking and de-identification). Projects must go through the Research Accreditation Panel (RAP) before data can be accessed.
Data access charges	ONS do not charge for access to the SRS. ADR UK’s investment has enabled significant expansion of the service, and for the service to remain free at the point of use.
Data access points	Data in the SRS can be accessed at ONS offices (Newport, Titchfield and London), SRS safe rooms available in National Records Scotland (Glasgow) and NISRA (Belfast), and via the SafePod Network. ONS will also be making some SRS data – dependent on data owner agreement – available to researchers via secure remote access through the Assured Organisation Connectivity (AOC) scheme.
More information	This video introduces the ONS SRS and the Project Accreditation Service for SRS (PASS), helping researchers to confidently apply for a project. By walking through the PASS system, the video provides guidance on selecting datasets, managing project changes, and understanding the checks your application will go through - along with the support available at each stage.

NISRA,
ADR Northern Ireland

The service	The Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency (NISRA) allows researchers safe access to project specific de-identified data in a secure environment to carry out secondary data analysis. NISRA hosts the Trusted Third Party for ADR Northern Ireland.
Advantages	Project-specific de-identified data can be accessed by accredited researchers through NISRA. The ADR NI Data Prospectus contains data from across Northern Ireland government departments.
Conditions	Administrative datasets are accessed via direct application to the NISRA Research Support Unit. Health and Social Care (HSC) data is accessed via a different route, via application to the HSC Honest Broker Service. Distinct linkages can be made between HSC data and data from the Northern Ireland Longitudinal Study (NILS) on application to the NISRA Research Support Unit.
Data access charges	Data access charges for the NISRA Secure Environment are currently covered by ADR UK funding.
Data access points	Data is accessible via the NISRA Secure Environment Belfast.

eDRIS (Public Health Scotland),
ADR Scotland

The service	The Public Health Scotland electronic Data Research & Innovation Service (eDRIS) provides support to approved researchers to gain access to de-identified public sector administrative data to enable them to carry out their approved research, which is for the public’s benefit. The service comprises complete end-to-end project coordination, expert advice, liaison with service delivery partners and data providers, support with applying for permissions, and user support for access to the Scottish National Safe Haven. Research Data Scotland (RDS) allows researchers safe access to data from some of Public Health Scotland’s most frequently requested datasets through their digitised Researcher Access Service. Data is accessed through a secure environment, such as the Scottish National Safe Haven (NSH) . This is a TRE which securely houses some of Scotland’s most useful datasets for research. The Scottish NSH offers a high-powered computing service, secure analytic environment, secure file transfer and a range of analytic software including SPSS, STATA, SAS, and R. The Scottish NSH is operated by the University of Edinburgh’s Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre (EPCC) on behalf of Public Health Scotland.
Advantages	Launched in April 2024, the Researcher Access Service (RAS) streamlines and simplifies the data access process so that researchers can access data faster, leading to more timely insights and enabling decision-makers to base their policies on good quality research built on good quality data. eDRIS supports various research initiatives including research projects from ADR UK, ADR Scotland, HDR UK (Health Data Research UK), RDS, Scottish Government and other funding streams. A wealth of de-identified health and non-health datasets can be analysed in the Scottish NSH subject to gaining appropriate permissions.
Conditions	Research projects must have appropriate approvals in place and appropriate individuals should be named in the application and/or data sharing agreement. eDRIS provides assistance with research applications to: the Statistics Public Benefit and Privacy Panel (S-PBPP) and the Public Benefit and Privacy Panel for Health and Social Care (HSC-PBPP). From April 2024, RAS provided access to nine datasets around health, with further datasets to be added at a later date.
Data access charges	For projects directed through the RAS Approval Pathway, view the RAS Approval Pathway pricing page. For all other projects, the eDRIS pricing guide is available through the Public Health Scotland (PHS) website.
Data access points	Currently data in the Scottish NSH can be accessed via safe settings within a researcher's institution, or in some cases, data controllers may allow remote access to data in the Scottish NSH subject to additional data access agreements.
More information	ADR Scotland has four delivery partners, namely EPCC, National Records of Scotland, PHS and RDS . The latter, RDS, is the lead delivery partner for the RAS. They are working to expand the RAS to include additional datasets in areas such as education, social work, and justice through discussions with data controllers.

SAIL Databank,
ADR Wales

The service	SAIL Databank gives researchers secure remote access to datasets with billions of anonymised person-based population, health and social care data records. SAIL utilises the services of NHS Wales' Digital Health and Care Wales as a trusted third party to facilitate data linkage via personal identifiers. There are no personal identifiers held within SAIL.
Advantages	Data submitted to Digital Health and Care Wales with identifiers allows data to be linked automatically to all other data holdings related to those individuals within SAIL (includes: a range of health data, including hospital and GP data; CAFCASS data; educational outcomes data; energy data; and local authority held data, such as that relating to council tax, homelessness and looked after children).
Conditions	If data owners are not willing to submit data with personal identifiers to Digital Health and Care Wales, data cannot be linked to other datasets and remains a standalone asset. The majority of data already held within SAIL relates to the population of Wales, so onward linkage of other data is limited.
Data access charges	Data access charges for SAIL are not currently covered by ADR UK funding, although the feasibility of doing this for secondary data analysis calls is being explored to promote interest in newly available datasets. For more information about access charges, please see the SAIL website.
Data access points	Secure remote access to data is available within the SAIL Gateway. This is subject to researcher verification, a data access agreement and physical and procedural controls. Researchers can also access the SAIL Gateway through the SafePod Network.

What would you like to look for?

Trusted research environments

ONS Secure Research Service

NISRA,
ADR Northern Ireland

eDRIS (Public Health Scotland),
ADR Scotland

SAIL Databank,
ADR Wales

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