ADR Scotland partnership

About ADR Scotland 

In November 2023, Research Data Scotland (RDS) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Scottish Government, detailing how the organisation will help to deliver core elements of the ADR Scotland (Administrative Data Research Scotland) programme.

This programme – part of ADR UK and funded by the ESRC – is helping to make administrative datasets more readily linkable and securely available for research on a suite of critical issues in Scotland, including children's lives and outcomes, lifelong health and wellbeing, health and social care, poverty and fair work, and building safer communities.

Since April 2023, RDS has received additional funding from Scottish Government to support the delivery of the programme on practical data work around ingesting and updating data. This work will contribute to ensuring better alignment across the Scottish system and so increase the impact of the ADR investment. With the signing of the MoU, RDS have agreed to deliver across various project workstreams, including data prioritisation and data curation.

ADR Scotland is a partnership combining specialists in the Scottish Government’s Data for Research Unit with the expertise of academic researchers at the Scottish Centre for Administrative Data Research (SCADR). Together they are transforming how public sector data in Scotland is curated, accessed and explored, so it can deliver its full potential for policymakers and for the public.

The Data for Research unit within the Scottish Government is leading on the discovery and sourcing of public sector datasets for research. They ensure appropriate information governance is in place, prior to other delivery bodies preparing and ingesting data into the ADR Scotland Infrastructure and National Safe Haven. Work is also being done with delivery partners to develop geospatial capability within the ADR Scotland Infrastructure to enhance potential research.

SCADR analyses data from across the public sector to inform policy and benefit society. The SCADR team also deliver training and public engagement to support and advance the use of administrative data.