Research Access to Microdata: an attempt to provide a context

Background National statistical institutes have an obligation to compile statistics that provide the information required by government. In the UK, following the 1980 review by Sir Derek Rayner, the remit of the Government Statistical Service was restricted to meet the specific needs of government departments rather than the broader needs of the business community, local government and academia. However, the launch of National Statistics in June 2000 involved an explicit commitment to meet the needs of a broader range of users that included the general public. The Framework Document (June 2000) that accompanied the launch set out the Governmentʼs commitment to providing a “statistical service that is open and responsive to societyʼs needs and the public agenda: better and more reliable official statistics that command public confidence.” Under the Aims and Objectives of National Statistics, in section 3, the third bullet point lists: