Government Social Research
Daniel Alford
I’ve been a substantive Principal Research Officer in HMRC since September 2005, after originally joining the Inland Revenue as a Senior Research Officer in December 2003. In my current role I lead a small but merry band of social researchers working alongside statisticians and economists within a team providing analytical support to HMRC and HM Treasury on the government's enterprise agenda. Our work in support of other analytical disciplines means that we stray beyond the realms of managing and undertaking social research to also include some statistical support and contract management of externally commissioned economic research.
HMRC is my first department in central government, although I have been a researcher in the public sector since leaving university in 1997. Beginning with the Further Education Development Agency (on a site since turned into a yoghurt factory), I’ve since been a Research Assistant at the University of Northumbria, Survey and Activity Sampling Manager with the British Transport Police, and Market Research Officer at the Greater London Authority. My career so far has provided me the opportunity to conduct and manage research and consultation on matters as varied as air pollution, regional government, the daily work of police officers, Trafalgar Square as a public space, and the take up of research and development tax credits.