You asked
Subject to research ethical approval, I wondered whether you would be able to help me to work out which individuals have given birth and have a specific health condition. Otherwise, would you be able to point me in the right direction please?
We said
Under the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 (SRSA) there are two main ways that ONS can release personal information for research purposes.
The first is under section 42(4) of the SRSA as amended by s287 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012 that allows ONS to provide personal information to the Secretary of State for Health for statistical purposes. For personal information to be released under this gateway the Secretary of State for Health (including an organisation listed in s287) must fund the work that is being carried out. A link to the relevant legislation is below:
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2012/7/section/287
You will need to supply evidence to ONS, in the form of a commissioning letter, to support your application. The letter should come from the funding body and clearly state the purpose and name of the study.
If the above route does not apply then you will need to apply for data via the approved researcher (AR) route (s39 of the SRSA). Each researcher on the project who has access to the data must apply to become an AR. A customer request form will also need to be completed. The AR form and the Customer Request form - Registration and Health are included in the link below:
All the forms can be emailed back, but as ONS can only accept original signatures the signature page of the AR form will need to be printed off, signed and scanned back in before emailing.
It is important that the customer form contains as much information as possible as the information will be used to create a submission for the ONS Microdata Release Panel (MRP). Please note I cannot submit the proposal to the MRP until all those involved in the project have been accredited as Approved Researchers. Currently applications to the MRP are taking approximately 3 to 4 months before a decision is reached. You should be aware that an application to the MRP does not in itself guarantee a successful outcome. Please note data will only be released to successful applicants to the MRP.
If you have any queries on the enclosed please contact vsob@ons.gov.uk