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I have been asked to reply.The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated July 2008:"As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question concerning what UK Government databases may be accessed by third parties following Commission Decision (EC) 2008/291, and what statutory safeguards exist for personal privacy. (217983)""Commission Decision (EC) No 2008/291 updates the list of scientific research institutions that have passed statutory checks for their competence to carry out research using certain statistical datasets held by Eurostat, the statistical office of the Commission.""The statistical sources that may be accessed by researchers in admissible institutions are listed in Commission Regulation (EC) No 831/2002 (as amended):""European Community Household Panel (ECHP)""Labour Force Survey (LFS)""Community Innovation Survey (CIS)""Continuing Vocational Training Survey""Structure of Earnings Survey (SES)""European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC)""Adult Education Survey""Farm Structure Survey""The UK contributes data to each of these sources. At present only ECHP, LFS, CIS, EU-SILC, and SES micro-datasets have an agreed anonymisation standard and available in that form for research use. Eurostat and member states are working on an anonymisation design for the other sources. The anonymisation standards are equivalent to the standard ONS uses for the datasets it places for research use through the UK Data Archive at Essex University.""Researchers in admissible institutions may be provided with data when the statutory safeguards in Commission Regulation (EC) No 831/2002 are met. This requires the researcher to submit a detailed written request setting out the research proposal. The UK authority that contributed data to the source must be informed of the request, and can withhold permission for its data to be provided.""A contract with Eurostat must be in place that specifies the research purpose and the necessary organisational and technical measures to keep the data secure. The data provided are also protected by the statutory prohibitions on disclosure in Chapter V of Council Regulation (EC) 322/97." |