ADR Wales (Administrative Data Research Wales) brings together world-renowned data science experts, leading academics and specialist teams within Welsh Government to produce evidence that shapes future policy decisions in Wales. The partnership is ideally placed to maximise the utility of anonymous and secure data to shape public service delivery, which will ultimately improve the lives of people in Wales.
ADR Wales unites specialists in each field from Population Data Science at Swansea University and the Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research and Data (WISERD) at Cardiff University with statisticians, economists and social researchers from Welsh Government. The cutting-edge data analysis techniques and research excellence developed, along with the world-renowned SAIL Databank, allow the delivery of robust, secure and informative research.
The data linked and analysed by ADR Wales aims to address the priority areas for action in Wales, as identified in the Welsh Government’s Programme for Government. Early years, education, housing, social care, social justice, mental health, health and wellbeing, climate change, skills and employment and emerging government priorities such as the impact of the pandemic; will be at the centre of the partnership’s work.
ADR Wales’ work will enable Welsh Government to understand far more about the relationship between different areas of service provision – for example, the link between health and housing – and to better understand the experiences of people as they move through different services. This will in turn support the development of better integrated policy to support future generations.
ADR Wales builds on a history of using innovative methods and infrastructure to securely link and analyse anonymised data. Previous analysis has contributed to the development, monitoring and evaluation work of Welsh Government policy interventions. This includes the following reports: Fuel Poverty, the homelessness support programme Supporting People; and the early years development programme Flying Start.
ADR Wales is part of the larger ADR UK partnership. ADR UK is made up of four national partnerships (ADR England, ADR Northern Ireland, ADR Scotland and ADR Wales), and the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which ensures data provided by UK Government bodies is accessed by researchers in a safe and secure form with minimal risk to data holders or the public.
The partnership is coordinated by a UK-wide Strategic Hub, which also promotes the benefits of administrative data research to the public and the wider research community, engages with UK Government to secure access to data, and manages a dedicated research budget.
Programme of Work 2022 – 2026
The ADR Wales Planned Programme of Work sets out how we will deliver against our published strategy.
Since 2018 our work has been strategically aligned to address areas outlined in the national strategy Prosperity for All (2017) and the commitments underpinning the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015, and more recently the Programme for Government for Wales (2021-2026).
Thanks to our unique set-up and close liaison with policy teams within government prior to commencing work, our programme of work for the next four years directly aligns to inform policy evidence needs on the areas of education, early years, skills and employability, mental health, well-being, housing and homelessness, social care, climate change and social justice. As a result, we are confident that the requirements of both the research team and policy teams are met by all the research undertaken and there is a significant opportunity to achieve impact.
We have also developed dedicated resources that will focus on the impact of the pandemic and other major changes on society, and upskilling the community of data linkage analysts and researchers in the UK.
Our Funding
ADR UK is an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) investment initially from July 2018 to March 2022. In September 2020, £15.3 million of funding was approved by UKRI, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and HM Treasury for the 2021/22 financial year, to cover the first year of a five-year long-term investment. In September 2021, the remaining £90.12 million of funding was secured from UK Government to continue to grow the programme for a further four years, until March 2026. Of the £90 million partnership investment, ADR Wales was awarded almost £17 million.