Answers to some of our most frequently asked questions are provided here.
If you are unable to find an answer to your question, please get in touch by selecting one of the short web forms.
What is the Secure Lab?
Are there any special requirements for accessing the Secure Lab?
How is the Secure Lab different to the SRS?
Is there a charge for using the Secure Lab service?
What's the Secure Lab User Agreement?
Can I or my University amend the User Agreement?
What's included in the Secure Lab training?
Using the Secure Lab
Please note that only your institution's IT support can help you with the following:
Many issues users encounter are common and some of these are listed below:
I click on the Secure Lab login page but I don't get through to the username and password page?
When I click on the SDS Desktop icon, the SDS window doesn't launch. Nothing happens
Can I download data from the Secure Lab?
How do I link external business data to ONS business data?
What is Statistical Disclosure Control?
How do I apply for an output to be checked?
What outputs will be returned to me?
Can I discuss outputs with an Approved/Accredited researcher on the same project as me?
What if a co-researcher is not eligible to use Secure Lab?
What are the penalties for a breach of the terms of access for data?
For full details on using the Secure Lab, please see our Secure Lab User Guide.
If your issue isn’t covered in our FAQs or the Secure Lab User Guide, please Get in touch.
Access to the Secure Lab is available to researchers who can fulfil the access requirements for the data required:
Please Get in touch if you have any queries about whether you are eligible to access data via the Secure Lab.
Are there any special requirements for accessing the Secure Lab?
1. Each user needs their own static routable IP address.
2. The endpoint device which accesses the Secure Lab (i.e. your workstation) must:
3. The following security measures must also be observed:
How is the Secure Lab different to the ONS Secure Research Service (SRS)?
The Secure Lab is very similar to the SRS and you will find familiar statistical software, including Stata, SPSS and ArcGIS. You can use Microsoft Office to write papers and design your presentations.
However, there are two important differences:
We are working closely with the ONS to ensure that all economic and social data currently available in the SRS will be available from the UK Data Service.
Is there a charge for using the Secure Lab service?
The Secure Lab service is part of the UK Data Service and is funded by the ESRC. We do not currently charge UK HE/FE researchers for using the service.
What's the Secure Lab User Agreement?
The Secure Lab User Agreement outlines the terms and conditions of use of the service, is signed by the researcher and a suitable officer at their institution (for example from a contracts office) and is returned before or during training.
The agreement includes:
The agreement demonstrates that the prospective researcher understands the seriousness of the undertaking, and that they and their institution understand the penalties that may be imposed for breaches of security or confidentiality.
Can I or my University amend the User Agreement?
No. Many Universities have agreed to sign the agreement as it stands. We cannot tailor the agreement for each specific University/request. It is an agreement that fulfils the requirements of numerous parties such as the ONS, ESRC and the University of Essex.
What's included in the Secure Lab training?
The training course includes relevant legal and ethical responsibilities, required security procedures, guidance on Statistical Disclosure Control of outputs, penalties for breaches, as well as practical instruction on how to access and use the system.
Further details are available from attend a training course.
Using the Secure Lab
I click on the Secure Lab login page but I don't get through to the username and password page?
Please email us with your confirmed IP address and we will update our firewall if necessary.
When I click on the SDS Desktop icon, the SDS window doesn't launch. Nothing happens
This could be a software error on your PC.
The Citrix software is the small software application that you installed on your computer just before we provided you with your username and password.
Can I download data from the Secure Lab?
Given the potential sensitivity, confidentiality and disclosiveness of the data, it is not possible for you to download any data from the system but you can view and analyse the data on your local computer via remote access. You may not, however, copy any analytical outputs from your screen, but you can share interim results with registered colleagues within the Secure Lab. The service carries out Statistical Disclosure Control checks on outputs ready for publication before these can be released and sent to you by email.
How do I link external business data to ONS business data?
The UK Data Service is able to assist researchers wishing to link external business data to ONS business data in the Secure Lab. See our guide for further information.
What is Statistical Disclosure Control?
Statistical Disclosure Control (SDC) is the process of reviewing your work to ensure that your results (for example descriptive statistics and other analyses), cannot be used to identify an individual respondent.
There are a variety of statistical measures commonly used by researchers that we have to check. The SDC standards we adhere to have been agreed by other European countries, and can be found in the document guidelines for the checking of output based on microdata research.
We undertake SDC of all outputs that researchers request from their Member Logon areas. We do the checks manually - this gives us the flexibility to consider each project individually. For this reason, as with our European colleagues, we do not feel that SDC software is appropriate to use for checking outputs created by our members.
We provide SDC training for our members, so you are aware of the SDC rules that we apply.
Along with other members of the Safe Data Access Professionals Working Group, we have produced this Handbook on Statistical Disclosure Control for Outputs. The Handbook provides practical guidance about how to assess a variety of statistical results for statistical disclosure and ensure that ‘Safe Outputs’ are released from their secure data environments. It can be used by staff responsible for statistical disclosure control checks, as well as users of Safe Settings. The Handbook also provides advice to organisations on setting up and managing the statistical disclosure control process.
How do I apply for an output to be checked?
We have created an SDC folder inside your login project folder. When you have finished your document, save a copy into this folder. You should then complete an Output Release Form available from our Get in touch page.
What outputs will be returned to me?
Outputs can only be removed from the Secure Lab environment subject to Statistical Disclosure Control checks by trained staff - once checked and deemed safe these are emailed to you.
In the UKDS Secure Lab, outputs are statistical results that have been written up for publication and/or presentation. You will have selected the results you wish to present to the outside world, from the analysis you have generated inside the Secure Lab, and written up the results. The output should be of a ‘publishable quality’ and have a specific purpose/use.
Publishable outputs include written documents and presentations. The publishable output types that are permitted for release from the Secure Lab are:
Researchers may also request release of their syntax files. These must not include any data or references to the Secure Lab server name (details in the Secure Lab User Guide).
You must also ensure that your output meets our minimum requirements. These minimum requirements must be met in order that we can make a thorough Statistical Disclosure Check:
If any of the minimum requirements are not met, or your output is not of ‘publishable quality’, your output will not be released. We will have to contact you for further information, thus delaying the release of your output and the outputs of other users.
Secure Lab users working on the same project can easily share their intermediate findings through shared project folders. However, in some cases, we may release Intermediate Results - see What if a co-researcher is not eligible to use the Secure Lab?
Can I discuss outputs with an Approved/Accredited researcher on the same project as me?
You may discuss outputs with an Approved/Accredited researcher on the same project but this must be done discretely and privately. It is absolutely forbidden to write anything down from the screen and outputs may only be shared in the project folder in your Secure Lab Login area or in the form of 'final outputs' following Statistical Disclosure Control and release by a member of the UK Data Service Support team.
What if a co-researcher is not eligible to use the Secure Lab?
Results which have not been checked by UK Data Service staff and returned to you must not be shared or disclosed to anybody else. They should only be accessed by a colleague working on the same project (see Can I discuss outputs with an Approved/Accredited researcher on the same project as me?).
You are not permitted to share any actual results with a non-approved researcher (even if you think they are not disclosive) such as a regression coefficient or a frequency count.
You may, however, discuss the overall research proposal and the results without disclosing any actual results.
If you wish to show actual results to a colleague who is outside the UK or who is not eligible to use the Secure Lab then you may ask us to release intermediate outputs provided that (i) the colleague has registered with the UK Data Service and agreed to its End User Licence and (ii) these outputs are equivalent as possible to 'finished goods/final outputs' e.g. a table in a MS Word document that includes sufficient surrounding text to allow us to understand and check the output.
What are the penalties for a breach of the terms of access for data?
A breach in the terms of access may result in:
Self-reported unintentional breaches will be penalised with discretion. Researchers who take full and prompt action to correct a self-reported and unintentional breach will not normally be penalised but may be asked to repeat training/induction.
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