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Sometimes referred to as a database, a dataset is a series of records which were originally created or managed on a computer system. A dataset usually takes the form of fields and tables within which items of data are contained and structured.

Typically, a dataset might contain the results of a survey, review, census or inventory, whose data was processed at the time of collection using a computer. As such, NDAD's holdings date from the 1960s, when computers came into use in central government.

Today, 95% of British and American government records are produced digitally. Although many are textual (e.g. word processed files, emails, etc), datasets make up a significant proportion. They provide a vast resource of data and statistical information of use to historians, researchers, statisticians and planners.