Data for Research: Change Management Board Minutes - February 2026

Attendees and apologies

• Alastair McAlpine, Scottish Government, Administrative Data Research Scotland Co-Director
• Greville Ramsay, Scottish Government, Change Management Lead
• Sean White, Scottish Government, Senior Systems Business Analyst
• Alex Ramage, Scottish Government, Interim Change Manager
• Stephen O’Neill, Scottish Government, Policy and Engagement Lead
• Emma Gordon, Administrative Data Research England, Director of ADR UK Strategic Hub and Director of ADR England
• Carole Morris, Public Health Scotland, Head of Data and Modelling Services
• Bill South, Office for National Statistics, Data Access Deputy Director
• Mark Sawyer, Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre, Service Manager
• Esther Roughsedge, National Records of Scotland, Head of Demographic Statistics
• Chris Dibben, Administrative Data Research Scotland, Co-Director
• Roger Halliday, Research Data Scotland, Chief Executive
• Natasha Kong, Economic and Social Research Council, Senior Programme Coordinator

Items and actions

Items and Actions

• the Chair opened the meeting, noted expected late arrivals, and confirmed Minutes from Meetings 2 and 3 had been approved. No outstanding actions were raised
• all decisions from the previous meeting were confirmed as complete and no further issues were raised.
• Sean White provided an update following the first Task and Finish workshop. The session was viewed positively, with the presence of a broad range of stakeholders considered highly valuable. Key areas discussed included identification of waste in the current process and opportunities to streamline the early stages of the end‑to‑end researcher access journey.

Recommendations included:

• stop‑the‑clock mechanism: Agreement to stop the clock when the next action lies with the researcher, aligning measurement with ADR UK work.
• front‑loading researcher support: Introduce early researcher‑coordinator interviews and clearer guidance to reduce delays. Need for tools and clarity recognised.
• named ASD experts: Recommendation to create a named list of Analytical Service Division specialists to support early scoping. A paper will be taken to ALG.
• operational definitions: Agreement to adopt the UK Data Sharing Team glossary to support consistency.
• training: Recommendation to train Data Access Panel representatives on the Planner‑based tracking approach.
• risks noted included scalability concerns, system constraints, and ensuring clarity for researchers.
• four workshops will be required to map the full end‑to‑end process. The first has been completed and further sessions will address front‑end redesign, indexing, and data linking. 
• the Board agreed in principle to establishing a second Task and Finish group focusing on front‑end improvements, though concerns were raised about resourcing and overlapping workloads.
• stakeholders emphasised the importance of including downstream teams such as NRS early in the design process.