An innovative team of journalists investigating datasets to tell stories of public interest that matter to local audiences. We passionately believe that in a world where the amount of digital information has increased exponentially, public bodies will only be held to account if journalists have the tech skills and time to interrogate these sources. We will work with partners in the local media industry to widen the reporting of public data across the UK.
We believe in making our journalism accessible to as many people as possible. We believe data journalism opens up the potential for new storytelling techniques.
- Monitor and interrogate officially published datasets to investigate issues of public interest
- Use Freedom of Information laws to gather data not publically available
- Extract structured content from web pages
- Analyse datasets for local angles we can share with media partners
- Present our findings in easy-to-understand guides
- Work alongside secondees from the industry to help them bring ideas from conception to journalism that can be used on BBC platforms
- Foster and develop a network of trained data journalists
- Encourage best practice in working with and reporting on data, and increase the capability of data journalism at a local level.
- Make packaged content for BBC English Regions audiences
- We will be open and transparent with our methodologies, and encourage a conversation between our network of reporters.
In November 2020, we reported experts' fears that thousands of smaller charities across the UK could cease to exist in the new year, following a shift in the nature of giving.
In October 2020, we reported police had wrongly cancelled records of serious crimes, in many cases without informing victims, analysis of official reports shows.
In October 2020, we reported how the UK risked losing its status as a leader of live music, according to KT Tunstall, with hundreds of venues at risk of closure due to the pandemic.
In September 2020, we reported how the number of GP appointments had reduced post-lockdown, with concerns from charities that some elderly people felt their GP was not "open for business".
In August 2020, we reported thousands of landlords were trying to avoid renting their properties to benefit claimants, despite a judge ruling a blanket ban was unlawful.
In August 2020 we reported that flu vaccination rates among the most vulnerable were falling, revealing the scale of the challenge in expanding the vaccination programme.
In July 2020 we reported how businesses tided over through summer with government measures could face insolvency coming out of lockdown as social distancing and other economic pressures hit.
In July 2020 we reported treatments for dozens of people with gambling addictions across Great Britain were paused as NHS staff were redeployed due to coronavirus.
In July 2020, we reported how more than one in six young people are now claiming out-of-work benefits in some parts of the UK.
In July 2020 we reported on fears over lotteries with jackpots of up to £25,000 being run by local authorities in a bid to raise funds for cultural activities and events in the wake of coronavirus.
In June 2020 we reported how some of the largest UK councils may have to declare themselves effectively bankrupt unless the government agrees to further support.
In June 2020 we reported on how remote court hearings by video or telephone used during the pandemic could be disadvantaging more vulnerable people.
In June 2020 we reported on how lockdown break-ups, job losses and urgent relocations were thought to have led to a surge in the rental sector, according to data provided by Rightmove.
In May 2020 we reported search interest in online casinos had hit an all-time high in the UK since lockdown began, according to data.
In May 2020 we reported that three in five people felt cycling on the road was too dangerous, as cycling was pushed as an alternative to public transport.
In May 2020 we reported on fears that the UK's scene would collapse without government support, as the lockdown left 140,000 performers, agents, promoters and technicians without a steady income since the end of March.
In May 2020, we reported that emergency council funding during the crisis could fail to cover care costs.
In April 2020 the BBC Shared Data Unit reported that about half of companies eligible for emergency coronavirus grants had not yet received funding.
In April 2020 the BBC England Data Unit and the BBC Shared Data Unit reported on pubs and restaurants turning to crowdfunding websites to survive the coronavirus lockdown.
In April 2020 the BBC England Data Unit and the BBC Shared Data Unit reported experts warning some airports were "at risk" of closure because of the loss of business during the coronavirus pandemic.
In April 2020 the BBC Shared Data Unit shared with partners the rate of fines for breaching social distancing rules per 10,000 people in each police force area between 27 March and 13 April.
In April 2020 the BBC England Data Unit and the BBC Shared Data Unit reported on the change in GP appointments - from 80% being in person in 2019, to 7% during the coronavirus outbreak, according to Professor Martin Marshall, chairman of the Royal College of GPs.
In April 2020 the BBC Shared Data Unit reported on significant drops in air pollution in the two weeks since the country went into lockdown to stop the spread of coronavirus.
In April 2020 the BBC Shared Data Unit reported hundreds of thousands of key workers considered critical to the UK’s response to the coronavirus crisis were earning below the so-called “real living wage”.
In March 2020 the BBC England Data Unit and the BBC Shared Data Unit worked with the Local Democracy Reporting Service to report on delays to plans to reduce high-polluting vehicles travelling around UK cities due to the coronavirus crisis.
In March 2020, the BBC Shared Data unit reported that nearly 1,000 mutual aid groups had been set up since the outbreak of coronavirus.
In March 2020, the BBC Shared Data unit reported that nearly two thirds of UK homes fail to meet long-term energy efficiency targets.
In February 2020 the BBC Shared Data Unit reported organised criminal gangs were believed to be behind a rise in major flytipping incidents.
In February 2020 the BBC Shared Data Unit reported high-interest credit card ads were being targeted at people seeking benefits advice on UK local council websites.
In January 2020 the BBC Shared Data Unit reported empty businesses costed UK taxpayers £1bn a year, prompting calls for urgent reform of the system.
In December 2019 the BBC Shared Data Unit reported some parts of the UK had seen the number of people diagnosed with dementia more than double in five years, according to analysis of NHS data.
In November 2019 the BBC Shared Data Unit reported one in two people who appealed in court against a decision to deny them disability benefits was successful.
In September 2019 the BBC Shared Data Unit reported the claim that a "quiet green tax" was deterring gardeners from recycling their waste.
In August 2019 the BBC Shared Data Unit reported railway stations serving London's commuter belt remained a prime target for bike thieves.
In June 2019 the BBC Shared Data Unit reported violent offenders were being handed informal punishments by the police, despite guidance restricting their use to low-level offences.
In April 2019 the BBC Shared Data Unit reported the number of people dying while on probation in England and Wales had risen by almost a third in three years.
In March 2019 the BBC Shared Data Unit reported a "patchy" network of charging points was discouraging UK drivers from embracing electric cars.
In March 2019 the BBC Shared Data Unit reported on the impact of the Right to Buy policy under which former social housing tenants were allowed to buy their home at a discount, the size of which depended how long they had lived there.
In January 2019 the BBC Shared Data Unit reported on the postcode lottery of council charges to collect unwanted furniture and other large waste items.
In December 2018 the BBC Shared Data Unit reported cuts to legal aid had created "deserts" of provision across England and Wales
In November 2018 the BBC Shared Data Unit reported one in three new jobs created in the UK over the past decade has been in London.
In October 2018 the BBC Shared Data Unit reported the number of students seeking mental health support whilst at university has increased by more than 50% in five years.
In October 2018 the BBC Shared Data Unit reported UK high streets had the highest concentration of fast food outlets since 2010.
In August 2018 the BBC Shared Data Unit reported house-building across half of England was slower than it had been before the financial crash.
In July 2018 the BBC Shared Data Unit reported there were more than five million people across England who were unable to book an appointment with a GP outside of working hours, when all patients were due to have full extended access by 1 October 2018.
In July 2018 the BBC Shared Data Unit reported some of the most heavily policed football matches in the UK had one officer present for every 50 fans, prompting calls for a review.
In July 2018 the BBC Shared Data Unit reported people living in the poorest parts of the UK were more likely to die prematurely.
In May 2018 the BBC Shared Data Unit reported one smuggled mobile phone or SIM card had been seized for every six inmates in English and Welsh jails in 2017.
In March 2018 the BBC Shared Data Unit reported some 10% of the road network maintained by local authorities in Great Britain is in poor condition, or had been flagged for further inspection.
In February 2018, the Shared Data Unit revealed Britain's bus network had shrunk to levels last seen in the late 1980s.
In February 2018, the Shared Data Unit reported out of around 11,000 police officers lost from 2012-17 across forces in England and Wales, 1,500 worked in neighbourhoods - around one in seven.
In January 2018 the Shared Data Unit reported the compensation bill for NHS mistakes that took place before 1995 - mainly maternity failings - had begun to rise for the first time in five years.
In November 2017 the BBC Shared Data Unit reported London's commuter belt had seen a spike in the number of homes left long-term empty despite a downward trend across the UK since 2010.
In October 2017 the Shared Data Unit reported that the proportion of EU nationals leaving jobs in the NHS is rising, while the share of those joining is shrinking.
In September 2017 the BBC England Shared Data Unit reported teacher vacancy rates were at their highest in primary schools in the most deprived parts of England.
This was the first story to come out of the data arm of the BBC Local News partnership and was picked up by a range of partners and other news outlets.
Repositories for all our stories can be found tagged 'shareddataunit'.
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