Data for Research: Change Management Board minutes - January 2026

Attendees and apologies

• Alastair McAlpine, Scottish Government, Administrative Data Research Scotland Co-Director
• Greville Ramsay, Scottish Government, Change Management Lead
• Alex Ramage, Scottish Government, Interim Change Manager
• Stephen O’Neill, Scottish Government, Policy and Engagement Lead
• Sophie Quinn, Scottish Government, Statistician
• Aysha Sohail, Scottish Government, Assistant Statistician
• Sean White, Scottish Government, Senior Systems Business Analyst
• 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

Apologies

• Eilidh McLaughlin, Head of Digital Citizen Division, Scottish Government

Items and actions

• Stephen O'Neill (SO’N) to circulate December minutes
• Sean White (SW) to amend vision statement to reflect SG administrative data
• SW to select first pilot area (likely education data)
• all members to provide names for Task and Finish groups
• Alex Ramage (AR)/Greville Ramsay (GR) to convene pilot Task and Finish group before February meeting
• Ally McAlpine (AMcA)/GR to confirm escalation routes for SG issues
• Task and Finish group to consider Digital Economy Act within legal pathway review
• Carole Morris (CM)/AR to provide missing roles for updated RACI Matrix