This is a data science cookiecutter template for analytical, Python-, or Python and R-based projects within Her Majesty's Government, and wider public sector including policing, where it has been trialled and used as a standardised template for effectively sharing data science work and includes security features using pre-commit hooks to preserve sensitive information.

It also provides an Agile, centralised, and lightweight analytical quality assurance (AQA) process. Pull or merge request templates are used to nudge users to complete this process. This helps meet HM Government best practice on producing quality analysis, as defined in the Aqua Book.

The original developer in GDS has provided a blog post explaining the reasons for creation and provided a live demonstration from March 2021 on version 0.5.3. 

The National Standards Assurance Board reviewed this in January 2022 and found it being owned and actively developed by the Office for National Statistics, Best Practice and Impact team.