Opening access to administrative data for evaluating public services: the case of the Justice Data Lab

As government administrative data sets are increasingly made available for new (non-administrative) purposes, there is a need to improve access to such resources for voluntary and community organizations, social enterprises and private businesses for statistical analysis and evaluation purposes. The Justice Data Lab set up by the Ministry of Justice in the UK presents an innovative case of how administrative data can be linked to other data held by organizations delivering public services. The establishment of a unit within a secure setting holding evaluation and statistical expertise has enabled providers of programmes aimed at reducing re-offending to obtain evidence on how the impact of their interventions differs from that of a matched comparison group. This article explores the development of the Justice Data Lab, the methodological and other challenges faced, and the experiences of user organizations. The article draws out implications for future development of Data Labs and the use of administrative data for the evaluation of public services

Collaborating for Greater Impact: Building an Integrated Data Ecosystem

Produced by the Mowat Centre at the School of Public Policy and Governance, University of Toronto.The latest report from Mowat NFP’s Enabling Environment series analyzes how charities, funders, governments and academic institutions can create a more enabling environment for data collection, analysis and sharing for the charitable sectors in both Canada and the UK