UK Data Service video: 5 Safes for reuse of confidential and sensitive data

Safes animation

The UK Data Service are happy to announce the release of our new short video describing the principles for providing safe and secure access to confidential and sensitive microdata. Using the 5 Safes enables researchers to carry out work that would not usually be possible with anonymised data - a real advantage for researchers, maximising the potential of the data.

The UK Data Service has provided such access for almost five years via its Secure Lab using the 5 Safes framework, a set of five simple protocols that provide complete assurance for data owners and researchers:

·         safe data

·         safe projects

·         safe people

·         safe settings

·         safe outputs

These principles support international best practice for safely using secure data and have been adopted by a range of other secure labs, the Administrative Data Research Network, HM Revenue and Customs and the UK's Office for National Statistics, where the concept actually originated. Implementing the 5 Safes framework at the UK Data Service has allowed us to design, test and fully implement designated Approved and Accredited Researcher pathways for handling and accessing sensitive data; access pathways used by both UK government and the ESRC. Researchers wishing to use confidential and sensitive microdata attend the Safe User of Research data Environments (SURE) training course delivered by one of these four secure access data providers.