Debora Price, Professor of Social Gerontology at the University of Manchester and Deputy Director of the UK Data Service, reflects on the critical importance of data preservation, recent international threats to data infrastructure, and why we must protect trusted data services as essential public institutions.
Data preservation in troubled times
In an age of contested facts, polarised public discourse and eroded trust in institutions, the preservation of data and its independent governance are not technical details. They are foundational to democracy, social understanding, and the pursuit of knowledge. They form the basis of sound decision-making across policy, economics, industry and society.
As a researcher whose career has been shaped by access to high-quality, trusted, and well-documented population data — much of it safeguarded by the UK Data Service — I have never felt more urgently the need to protect and promote the infrastructure that makes this possible. We tacitly assume that our institutions will consistently produce reliable data, document it, preserve it, and make it available for analysis.
A warning from the United States
In recent months, developments in the United States have sent a chill through the global data community: cuts, political interference, and a climate of uncertainty around national statistical services. While many have heard about the sudden withdrawal of billions of dollars of federal funding for science, and attacks on the National Science Foundation, there has been far less public visibility of the parallel loss of globally important data from archives.
In Spring 2025, the BBC headlined: “Inside the desperate rush to save decades of US scientific data from deletion” and the Financial Times “The White House War on Federal Statistics”. This was the subject of Anna Britten’s editorial in the May edition of Significance, official magazine of the Royal Statistical Society in the UK. She raises the alarm about the unexplained removal of datasets from Data.gov, stating that “it remains unclear at the time of writing whether they have been permanently deleted”. She cites staffing losses and terminations at key statistical agencies, and the disbanding of critical scientific advisory committees.
Professional bodies like the American Statistical Association (ASA) have expressed grave concern over threats to data transparency, the politicisation of statistical work, and the erosion of infrastructure that supports informed policy and democratic accountability.
The ASA is asking the whole data community to report cancellation of data collection contracts, discontinuance of statistical programs, and so forth, and researchers are urgently engaged in The Data Rescue Project, a coordinated effort among a group of data organisations to archive endangered scientific, population, social and economic data that is or may be at risk. These events are a stark reminder that even long-established data institutions are vulnerable.
A quiet success story in the UK
It is easy to take data archives for granted, especially when they are working well. In the UK, amongst other well supported Data Services, the UK Data Archive and UK Data Service have for nearly six decades quietly and expertly ensured that population, social and economic data of national importance — from the Census to the British Social Attitudes Survey, the Labour Force Survey to the Family Resources Survey, Understanding Society, the renowned Cohort Studies, and countless others — are actively preserved, curated, and made available for re-use. These are not merely data files. They are collective memory, social history, and the evidence base upon which we build policy and research.
Preservation requires active investment
But preservation does not happen passively. It takes active care, funding, expertise, legal infrastructure, and independence. A well-functioning national data archive is not a luxury; it is a strategic national asset.
The international data community has responded with concern and resolve to the threats in the US. We are reminded that data infrastructures must be resilient, transparent and anchored in principles of public good. At the UK Data Service, our commitment is clear: we champion FAIR data (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable), protect respondent confidentiality, and work to support data literacy across research, policy and civil society. But we cannot do this alone — continued investment and political will are essential.
Renewed commitments, and ongoing responsibilities
In the UK, these principles are currently recognised with political and financial commitment. The UK Government has recently announced the creation of a new Health Data Research Service with £600 million in funding, following recommendations in the Sudlow review. This comes alongside proposals for a National Data Library.
These developments are welcome. They must be grounded in what we know works: long-term stewardship, governance at arm’s length from political interference, and an unwavering commitment to the public interest.
The bigger picture: what’s at stake
As someone who studies ageing, inequality and social policy, I have long understood the importance of longitudinal and administrative data in helping us make sense of complex lives and changing times. But global events remind us that the case for a national data archive — and for trusted, protected institutions that facilitate data re-use — must be made forcefully, persuasively, and repeatedly. We must not take them for granted. The stakes are too high.
Without sustained investment in safeguarding the integrity and accessibility of data, we risk losing not just datasets, but our capacity to understand ourselves and the society we are becoming. These data services must be recognised and treated as critical national infrastructure, subject to appropriate scrutiny and protection, including safeguards in relation to foreign ownership and interference.
Legal, regulatory, security and governance frameworks must ensure not only digital resilience and long-term preservation, but also political independence, public access, and national sovereignty over our data services, as essential public institutions.
Safeguarding our national data legacy
Robust and trusted data archives are our collective legacy to future generations — ensuring they inherit not only the data carefully gathered and preserved over decades, but also the tools to understand the past, navigate the present, and shape a better future.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the UK Data Service or its partner organisations.
About the author
Debora Price is Professor of Social Gerontology at the University of Manchester and a Deputy Director of the UK Data Service.
Her research focuses on ageing, money and inequality, with particular expertise in pensions, financial security in later life, and gendered patterns of wealth. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and former President of the British Society of Gerontology.
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