A useful view. A defined field of vision.
Use appropriately anonymised and aggregated information from participating organisations, with relevant public search activity where available, to explore local provision, recorded activity and questions worth investigating.
From individual services to the wider picture
Available measures depend on participation, recording practices and agreed reporting. Operational activity describes services used; search activity describes searches made. Neither provides a complete measure of unmet need.
Food support
How many people and households are using participating food services? Is demand rising, falling or changing by area?
Digital inclusion
Which digital inclusion queries are increasing? What support is being delivered, and how does the pattern vary between places?
Device reuse
How many devices are being rehomed by region, what types are moving through services and how does recorded activity vary?
Community capacity
How many volunteers are active across participating organisations? What other service, referral and capacity trends are emerging?
Useful signals. Careful conclusions.
Activity and provision
Operational data describes activity recorded by participating organisations. Service listings describe represented provision; they do not guarantee current capacity or complete local coverage.
Searches and demand
Help Is Near searches are not unique people or confirmed need. Repeat searches, search terms and how people use the service affect the figures. Treat them as demand signals alongside other evidence.
Potential gaps
Zero-result searches indicate potential gaps to investigate, rather than proving gaps in provision. Missing listings, search wording, location filters or incomplete coverage may also explain a result.
Use appropriately anonymised and aggregated data, suitable geographic groupings and reporting safeguards. Agree the purpose, definitions and coverage before drawing comparisons; avoid identifying people or organisations through small counts. Validate possible gaps with local organisations and communities.
Agree the safeguards before using the figures.
Reporting needs a clear purpose, suitable access controls and appropriate aggregation. Small counts, sensitive categories and detailed locations can reveal identities even without names; use suppression or broader groupings where needed.
Keep referral information and individual case records separate from strategic reporting. Network participation does not make personal records publicly available.
State which organisations and services are represented, the reporting period, definitions and missing data. Do not add organisation-level counts and describe them as unique people across the Network unless an appropriate deduplication method supports that claim.
A change in participation, recording or search behaviour can change a trend. Check apparent gaps with local organisations and people with lived experience before using them to guide decisions.
Use the evidence to ask better local questions.
Discuss the place, participating services and decisions you want to inform. We can explore what information is available, what it can reasonably show and which safeguards and definitions would be needed.
Discuss Network Intelligence