Data is or data are?

Is data a plural noun, to be used with a plural verb? For example: the data show that the majority of staff work remotely on Mondays.

Or is data an uncountable noun, to be used with a singular verb? For example, the data shows that …

There is no consensus: some people argue that data is a plural noun because it is the plural form of datum. Others argue that data is an uncountable noun in a similar way to the word information, in the sense that data is a collection of pieces of information. (For more on countable and uncountable nouns, see this post).

The Financial Times recently changed its style guide to say that the word data is to be written in the singular: ‘data is…’, ‘this data…’. Listen to an interesting discussion about this on The More or Less programme on BBC Radio 4 (listen from 11:05 to 17:25).