UWE Bristol leads £2 million project helping government departments deliver better economic data

UWE Bristol researchers will lead a team providing academic expertise to key government departments as they work to deliver better economic data.

A team of 15 academic economists will act as a bridge between academia and government, helping ensure its data can be used to generate insights to inform policy and practice.

Leading a project backed with just over £2 million in funding, principally from ADR UK (Administrative Data Research UK), the researchers will work with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to maximise the value of their flagship datasets.

The team of six UWE Bristol academics and support staff will receive secure access to confidential data for the project, which runs until 2031. They will form the ADR UK Academic Lead team for Better Economic Data.

Project lead Felix Ritchie, Professor of Applied Economics, said: “The Better Economic Data (BED) project is a hugely important programme for UWE Bristol, demonstrating our ability to work with government departments to make some of the UK’s most valuable administrative data available for research.

“At its heart, BED is about transforming the economic data available in the UK and, in doing so, significantly improving the evidence base used to develop and evaluate policy.

“The project builds on the success of UWE’s Wage and Employment Dynamics project, which is already demonstrating real impact, helping to improve official statistics and providing new evidence on wages, employment and people’s experiences of the labour market.

“Looking ahead, our ambition for BED is to build on these foundations by creating a world leading economic data infrastructure, developing the research community to exploit these resources, and to work with the public to ensure we continue to support the provision of trusted, policy-relevant evidence that ultimately helps improve people’s lives.”

Funded mainly by ADR UK (80 per cent of total cost), the project is aimed at delivering a step change in administrative data for economics research that benefits the public and supports economic growth in the UK.

The team led by UWE Bristol (working with academics from University College London, the University of Birmingham, the University of Stirling, the University of London, the University of Bristol, King’s College London, and staff from the Institute for Fiscal Studies) will be one of a collection of ADR UK Academic Leads maximising the value of ADR UK flagship datasets. They will focus on:

• strengthening researcher skills and knowledge to use ADR UK flagship datasets for public good research
• representing researchers in the continuous improvement of flagship datasets to answer pressing policy questions
• building and sustaining an active, engaged community of researchers using the data
• further expanding policy relevant and impactful use of flagship datasets.

Specifically, the project will deliver three key work packages:

RAPID: The team will lead work to scale up the research use of the DWP’s RAPID datasets (Population interactions with employment, benefits and pensions), an ADR UK flagship dataset recently made available for secure research use. This will include providing training and support for researchers, advising data owners on potential improvements, and building a sustained community of practice.

LEED: They will advise DWP, HMRC and the Office for National Statistics on plans for the construction and scalable research use of a new Linked Employee-Employer Dataset (LEED) for the UK. They will also provide training and support for researchers when this data is accessible.

Public engagement: These are substantial changes in the availability of economic data, The team will support DWP, HMRC and ADR UK with the development and running of a public representative panel to inform the research use and future development of both RAPID and LEED.

HMRC’s Chief Analyst, Alison Woodhouse said: “HMRC welcomes the Better Economic Data Academic Lead award and is excited to support this important initiative. We are actively championing efforts to make HMRC administrative data more accessible for research in secure environments. We look forward to working with the academic team and partners across government and academia to unlock new insights that support better policy and public services.”

DWP’s Head of Analytical Community Data Services Unit, Graham Knox said: “DWP are delighted to be able to work with this team of academic leads to help us shape understanding and maximise use of our great data products. Our aim is that the team will bridge some of the gap between government analysts and academia, and will help to make our existing data even more accessible and usable for wider research, as well as help to develop new data products.”

Karen Powell, Head of Research Strategy and Commissioning at ADR UK, said: “This Academic Lead team joins ADR UK’s collection of academic leads, helping to maximise the value and impact of our flagship economic datasets. Working closely with DWP, HMRC, ONS and the research community, the team will help address a longstanding gap in economic data for research, enabling new insights to inform policy, support growth and deliver public benefit.”