A new website launched yesterday, (Tuesday 6 September) brings together a vast range of insightful and in-depth information and data on Buckinghamshire, its people and places, all in one handy location.

The Bucks Data Exchange is a collaborative project between Buckinghamshire Council, the Rothschild Foundation, Leap, Heart of Bucks, Buckinghamshire’s Local Enterprise Partnership, Thames Valley’s Office for the Police & Crime Commissioner and the Bucks VCSE (Voluntary, Community & Social Enterprise) Partnership Board. The website has been built by the Aylesbury-based agency, Framework Digital.

The website is open for anyone to access but it will provide unprecedented opportunity for the voluntary and community sector to access robust data on the needs of local people in order to help them make strategic decisions and target resources.

From population figures to broadband speeds and life expectancy to crime rates, the website will continue to develop and will be regularly updated as more data becomes available. Charities, community organisations and anyone with an interest in Buckinghamshire can visit the website and sign up for updates.

Steve Bowles, Cabinet Member for Communities said: “I am very excited to see the culmination of many, many months of hard work across all the different partner organisations, manifest itself into this one-of-a-kind website. It is a one-stop-shop for anything you ever wanted to know about Buckinghamshire and I’m sure it will become invaluable to many people but most significantly, to our local charities and community organisations in terms of planning their work and targeting their efforts where they are needed most.”

Ellie Stout, Head of Grants at Rothschild Foundation, who have provided funding for the project commented: “The Rothschild Foundation is proud to be supporting the Buckinghamshire Data Exchange through our role as funder, project partner and contributor of data. We believe that through sharing our data we can help make grant-making and service delivery in the county even more effective and joined up. Through the process of gathering and publishing our data we can better understand ourselves and where we need to focus. That’s why we’re passionate about supporting more organisations to join the Bucks Data Exchange community.”

Mark Ormerod, Chair of Buckinghamshire VCSE Partnership Board and CEO of Leap added: “I believe partnership and collaboration is critical to address the most stubborn inequalities and challenges facing society today. The Buckinghamshire Data Exchange will enable key organisations across Buckinghamshire to distribute and share their intelligence, and collectively we can work on new solutions to address perennial problems.”

To access the website visit: www.bucksdataexchange.org