How to look for records of... Government surveys, statistics and other datasets from the National Digital Archive of Datasets, 1963-2010

This guide is designed to help users locate datasets from The National Digital Archive of Datasets (NDAD) collection, in Discovery, our catalogue.

The National Digital Archive of Datasets (NDAD) collection preserves and provides online access to archived digital datasets and documents from UK central government departments. NDAD spans 40 years of recent history, with the earliest available dataset dating back to about 1963.

By interrogating the NDAD datasets yourself, you can analyse information and statistics gathered from a wide variety of departments and subjects. For example, health, education, housing, crime and nature, amongst others.

Further information about the background of the NDAD service can be found on our archiving datasets page.

What records can I see online?

You can download the data tables and the accompanying explanatory documentation in a zip file.

The datasets are organised into series. At series level, the catalogue gives general information about how and why the government collected the data.

Datasets for downloading are at the next level down, along with a digitised collection of the accompanying documents (mostly paper), we received from the transferring government department.

These could include examples of survey forms, user manuals, code books, associated policy documents, etc., and are a useful aid to understanding the data in the datasets tables.

It is advisable to read the dataset documentation, always the last piece number in each series, before accessing the datasets themselves as this can provide very useful background to the data files.

You can access the data using the chart below. Click on and download the ‘dataset documentation’ in the right-hand column, and then access the data itself by clicking on the link in the series-level ‘National Archives ref.’ column, and using the ‘Browse by hierarchy’ option to access the datasets.

What’s available?

Department	Series title	NDAD ref.	National Archives ref.	Dataset documentation
Agricultural Departments	Agricultural and Horticultural Census	CRDA/4	MAF 408	MAF 408/21
	Bovine TB	CRDA/56	MAF 430	MAF 430/4
	Coast Protection Survey of England	CRDA/10	MAF 406	MAF 406/6
	Internal Draining Board Database	CRDA/9	MAF 407	MAF 407/4
British Railways Board	British Rail Electronically Archived Documents	CRDA/37	AN 186	AN 186/3 (closed)
Coal Authority	Mining Reports Systems	CRDA/16	KD 2	KD 2/28
Countryside Agencies	Local Heritage Initiative project directory	CRDA/67	CA 1	CA 1/2
	Vital Villages [and Rural Communities Best Practice] database	CRDA/68	CA 2	CA 2/2
Rural Development Commission	Survey of Rural Services	CRDA/30	D 16	D 16/5
Millennium Commission	Millennium Commission: Awards Scheme Database (AMIS)	CRDA/65	MM 3	MM 3/2
	Millennium Commission: Grants Database (PROFESA)	CRDA/66	MM 4	MM 4/2
Department for Culture, Media and Sport	National Lottery Awards Database	CRDA/39	PF 1	PF 1/3
Department of Trade and Industry (1983-2007)	Enemy Property Claims Assessment Panel (EPCAP)	CRDA/42	NK 1	NK 1/3
	Home Leisure Accident Surveillance Systems	CRDA/58	NK 3	NK 3/2
Education Departments	Grant Maintained Schools Database	CRDA/36	ED 278	ED 278/2
	Schools’ Census (Form 7)	CRDA/13	ED 267	ED 267/86 ED 267/86A ED 267/86B ED 267/86C
Department of Education and Employment	Learning Partnerships	CRDA/53	NV 4	NV 4/2
	Learning and Training at Work	CRDA/52	NV 3	NV 3/5
	Register of Educational Establishments	CRDA/47	NV 2	NV 2/3
English Heritage / Works Departments	Heritage Protection datasets	CRDA/64	WORK 93	WORK 93/3
Environment Agency	Bathing Water Directive database	CRDA/74	RD 1	RD 1/2
Department of Environment and successors	Countryside Information System	CRDA/46	AT 73	AT 73/11
	English House Condition Survey	CRDA/51	AT 76	AT 76/13A AT 76/13B
	House Building Inquiry	CRDA/54	AT 86	AT 86/2
	Housing Data: Renovation Grants and Group Repair Schemes Activity	CRDA/29	AT 68	AT 68/2
	State of the Cities Database	CRDA/76	AT 104	AT 104/83
Works Departments	Deeds Registry Application	CRDA/49	WORK 88	WORK 88/2
Forestry Commission	National Inventory of Woodland and Trees	CRDA/3	F 45	F 45/9
Health Departments Department of Health (1988 – present)	1994 General Household Survey: Follow-up Survey of the Health of People aged 65 and over	CRDA/28	JA 6	JA 6/2
	Anatomy Office – Anatomy dataset	CRDA/21	JA 3	JA 3/3
	General Medical Practitioners Workload Survey	CRDA/63	JA 9	JA 9/2
	Public Health Common Dataset	CRDA/24	JA 5	JA 5/120
Department of Health and Social Security and related bodies	AIDS Advertising Evaluation	CRDA/35	BN 97	BN 97/2
	Children’s Difficulties on Starting Infant School	CRDA/33	BN 94	BN 94/2
	Children in care	CRDA/38	BN 98	BN 98/16
	Elderly and their Medicines	CRDA/34	BN 96	BN 96/2
	Reasons for Retirement	CRDA/27	BN 93	BN 93/2
	Survey of Abortion Patients for the Committee on the Working of the Abortion Act	CRDA/32	BN 95	BN 95/4
United Kingdom Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting	Single Professional Register and Index of Training (SPRINT-UK)	CRDA/50	KN 2	KN 2/2
HM Revenue & Customs and predecessors	Beer duty system	CRDA/19	CUST 134	CUST 134/3
Home Office	British Crime Survey	CRDA/2	HO 400	HO 400/11
Public Record Office	Archive Inspection Services Unit: Archival Mapping of Places of Deposit in England and Wales: Projects	CRDA/60	PRO 71	PRO 71/4
	Conservation Database	CRDA/71	PRO 80	PRO 80/9
	Presentations under the Public Records Act 1958, s.3(6)	CRDA/59	PRO 72	PRO 72/2
	Records Accessions Registers	CRDA/62	PRO 79	PRO 79/2
Lord Chancellor’s Department	Judge Advocate General’s Office case index system	CRDA/23	LCO 60	LCO 60/5
The Court Service and Successors	Judicial Statistics	CRDA/8	LE 1	LE 1/8
Metropolitan Police	Crime Statistics System (ME)	CRDA/1	MEPO 36	MEPO 36/10
Museums and Galleries Commission	Digest of Museum Statistics (DOMUS)	CRDA/12	EB 6	EB 6/4
Nature Conservation Departments	Ancient Woodland Inventory	CRDA/43	FT 43	FT 43/2A FT 43/2B
	British Bats	CRDA/17	FT 40	FT 40/2
Joint Nature Conservation Committee	International Designations – European database (‘Natura 2000’)	CRDA/57	KR 8	KR 8/12
	Ramsar Wetlands Sites Data	CRDA/75	KR 9	KR 9/6
Benefits Agency	Earnings Top-up Scheme	CRDA/48	NB 5	NB 5/2
Statistical Departments	Company Accounts Analysis	CRDA/41	RG 81	RG 81/2
	Consumer and Retail Prices Index	CRDA/61	RG 77	RG 77/4
	Historic Mortality Data Files	CRDA/20	RG 69	RG 69/3
	Primary Births	CRDA/5	RG 71	RG 71/5
Commission for the New Towns and Successors	English Sites Database	CRDA/69	FJ 7	FJ 7/2
	House Building Inquiry	CRDA/54	AT 86	AT 86/2
	Housing Data: Renovation Grants and Group Repair Schemes Activity	CRDA/29	AT 68	AT 68/2
Local Government Boundary Commission for England	Humberside: study of attitudes and preferences 1989 – 1990	CRDA/72	AX 14	AX 14/2
Department of Transport (1976 – 1998)	Survey of Heavy Goods Vehicles	CRDA/14	LM 1	LM 1/33
Welsh Office and the Wales Office	Coastal Survey – Wales	CRDA/6	BD 80	BD 80/2
	Survey of Contaminated Land in Wales	CRDA/15	BD 83	BD 83/2

Other ways to find NDAD Datasets

• You can search for a particular dataset by entering a keyword, along with the term ‘dataset’ in the Discovery search box. For example, ‘Crime AND dataset’. You can also refine your search by topic or by entering a date range
• Alternatively, you may wish to browse through details of the whole collection. Please note that the list returned by Discovery is not in any particular order
• You can also search for the full catalogue reference, for example, AT 68

How do I find and download records?

From the above list, click on the dataset series you are interested in (for example, ED 267) and then click on ‘browse’.

 

 

 

 

 

Alternatively, enter a reference into the Discovery search box…

 

 

 

 

 

…then click on the description of the record series.

You will then see the series description (as in first image above) and you can click on ‘browse’.

In ‘browse view’ the left-hand side shows the general information about the dataset. The right-hand side scrolls independently to particular instances of the dataset. In this example the Schools Census was taken annually, and there is one set of data for each year.

Each dataset has a specific reference (ED 267/ followed by a number) – the dataset for 1977 has the reference ED 267/3. To see more information about a specific dataset, click on ‘details’

From here you can download the dataset.

In the box that appears, select ‘save’ and choose what you want to name the zip file and where you wish to save it. When the file is saved on your computer, locate and open the folder.

Technical requirements

As the datasets are delivered as zip files you will need a program capable of unzipping these files. Most modern Microsoft Windows operating systems will automatically unzip files when you download them. However, Windows 95/98/2000 does not have built in zip file support. It is therefore necessary to use third party software. If you are unable to unzip the files there are numerous programs available which can do so, such as: PentaZip, PicoZip, PKZip, PowerArchiver, StuffIt and WinZip. Most programs offer a 30-day limited trial period during which you can download and try the utility for free.

To download the .csv files within a dataset, you will need to have a spreadsheet viewer installed on your computer.

What records can I find at The National Archives?

• All the available datasets in the NDAD collection can be downloaded
• Other government datasets can be downloaded from government websites in the UK Government Web Archive

What records can I find in other archives and organisations?

• The UK Data Archive has government datasets as part of its collection of economic and social science data
• Search our catalogue, and refine your results using the filters, to find datasets that aren’t part of NDAD

What other resources will help me find information?

• The UK Government Web Archive has snapshots of the original NDAD website which have information about the early days of NDAD, up to its closure in 2010
• Please note that it is not possible to download actual datasets from the archived NDAD websites