Andrew Boyd, PEARL’s Data Linkage and Information Security Manager, has worked closely with the Senior Management Team of the Avon Longitudinal Study for Parents and Children (ALSPAC) to embed a systematic information security management plan into the working practices of ALSPAC. The maintenance of this plan has resulted in ALSPAC achieving International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO)/IEC 27001 accreditation for data security.

The record linkage process for PEARL utilises the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL), a world leading resource for anonymisation and record linkage.