To protect research participants and for data to be shared under appropriate safeguards as per data protection legislation Controlled data (de-identified data) is made available via the Five Safes Framework which consists of the following:
Safe Data (de-identified)
Safe Projects (projects approved by the data south africa rcs data owner or the Research Accreditation Panel)
Safe People (accredited, trained researchers)
Safe Settings (SecureLab, SafePod or SafeRoom),
Safe Outputs (screen and approved non-disclosive outputs)
The UK Data Service SecureLab was first established in 2011 to enabled secure access to the most sensitive and confidential collections. Since then SecureLab usage has grown considerably and a wide variety of data are made available including governmental data, cohort data and linked administrative data.
While historically Controlled data has been restricted to researchers based in the UK, UK Data Service as a member of the International Data Access Network, is committed in ensuring wider access to data.
In February 2022 selected datasets from the Institute for Social and Economic Research and have been negotiated to be made available via a Safe Room at the Research Data Centre of the Federal Employment Agency at the Institute for Employment Research Germany.