The Safe Haven Charter, which underpins the collaborative work of Scotland’s technical environments that enable researchers to securely access and analyse sensitive data, has been updated for the first time since 2015.

The Charter sets out the principles and standards for the Scottish Safe Haven Network (SSHN) to support the use of data to enable research and innovation across Scotland providing a trusted, secure framework for researchers accessing health data in a controlled and ethical way.

In the first major update of the Charter, it sets out a refined set of five clear principles, streamlined from the original seven, reflecting the Safe Havens’ collective focus on transparency, security, and public benefit. The revised principles are designed to ensure clarity, foster greater consistency across the SSHN, and strengthen public confidence in how data is used to support research that benefits patients and the wider population. The purpose of the principles are to:

• Support public health and healthcare improvements: enable research that can lead to more effective, safer health services and treatments, and contribute to a better understanding of the economic, societal, and environmental causes and development of diseases
• Ensure ethical research: ensure all health and social care research and innovation conducted within the Safe Havens adheres to the highest ethical standards and legal requirements, maintaining public trust and integrity
• Protect privacy of individuals: implement robust measures to safeguard patient identity and privacy, ensuring that data from electronic NHS patient records is processed, linked, and analysed in a secure platform while facilitating the approval process for data access
• Facilitate high-quality and innovative research: support the advancement of scientifically sound research by providing researchers with access to comprehensive and well-maintained data sets within secure compute platforms
• Promote collaboration: encourage collaborative research efforts across regional and national Safe Havens within Scotland and across the UK, aiming for whole Scotland coverage or as close to it as practical. This federated approach promotes a more inclusive research environment, engaging industry and maximising the collective impact of health and social care research.

Jonathan Cameron, Deputy Director of Digital Health and Care in the Scottish Government, said:

“Since the first iteration of the Safe Haven Charter, we have, driven an increased focus on the importance of data and its effective, ethical, and secure use in delivering new insights and approaches. We welcome the refreshed Safe Haven Charter as an important step to supporting the ambitions of Scotland’s Health and Social Care Data Strategy, and its aim of fostering greater collaboration with researchers and industry partners to drive innovation for public benefit. “

Research Data Scotland (RDS) was commissioned by Scottish Government last year to review and renew the Charter, as part of its role as Chair of the Scottish Safe Haven Steering Group. This group includes members from:

• Electronic Data Research and Innovation Service (eDRIS)
• Health Informatics Centre (HIC), University of Dundee, East of Scotland Node
• Data Safe Haven (DaSH), Grampian
• Lothian Regional Safe Haven (DataLoch)
• The West of Scotland Safe Haven (Greater Glasgow and Clyde)
• EPCC, University of Edinburgh

Layla Robinson, Chief Partnership & Strategy Officer at RDS, said: “We’ve worked closely with the Regional Safe Havens to provide a comprehensive review and revised the Charter to incorporate changes in regulations, technological advancements, and lessons learned since implementation.

“Key areas of progress include embracing the Five Safes Framework within the Charter and maintaining robust assurance processes through external audits and rigorous self-assessments, which will enable the Scottish Safe Haven Steering Group to continue to uphold the highest standards. The introduction of annual compliance monitoring against the Charter, co-ordinated by RDS, will further ensure alignment with best practice and a culture of continuous improvement.”

Find out more: A Charter for Safe Havens in Scotland: Principles and Standards for the Scottish Safe Haven Network to Support the Use of Data to Enable Research and Innovation in Scotland

[This news item was first published in March 2025 by Research Data Scotland: First major update to Safe Haven Charter]