Education ICT Quango Becta To Close

Becta – the government agency promoting the use of technology in education – has confirmed it will be forced to close as part of new government spending cuts.

During a speech by chancellor George Osborne and Treasury minister David Laws outside the Treasury this morning, in which they announced total cuts of £6.25 billion, it was revealed that the closure of the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta) and other Department for Education quangos would save £80 million (PDF).

A further £95 million will also be saved through cuts in IT spending, although the specifics of these cuts have not yet been announced. Last week HM Treasury said that IT spending cuts and the cancellation of “wasteful” projects such as ID cards would play a key role in reducing the national debt.

More savings than costs?

“Naturally we are very disappointed at the Government’s decision,” said Becta’s chairman Graham Badman and chief executive Stephen Crowne, in a joint statement. “Becta is a very effective organisation with an international reputation, delivering valuable services to schools, colleges and children. Our procurement arrangements save the schools and colleges many times more than Becta costs to run.”

Becta currently employs 240 people at the university of Warwick and has an annual budget of £65 million. The company executives said that their top priority now was to ensure an orderly and fair process for staff. It also hopes to enable schools, colleges and children to continue to benefit as far as possible from the savings and support that Becta has provided in the past.

There has been a strong reaction to the news on Twitter, with many users lamenting the loss of a “great tool for translating big tech vision into real local action,” (@NeilAdam – consultant for education and ICT).

Excluding open source?

Becta has come under criticism in recent years for excluding open source systems, after its infrastructure framework for suppliers to schools was seen to favour proprietary software – particularly Microsoft. However, the agency’s former chairman Andrew Pinder has defended its stance, claiming that open source is no different from any other software, it is only the pricing structure that is different.

Becta also played a key role in the government’s £300 million Home Access scheme, which aimed to provide 270,000 low-income families with free laptops and broadband access. Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that the programme would enable more families to access the Internet, narrowing the digital divide between rich and poor in the UK.

The agency was also involved in setting up and evaluating “Online Basics” courses – designed to encourage more adults to improve their knowledge of computing and the Internet and develop online skills. However, this too came under criticism for promoting Microsoft products.

Following the Parliamentary expenses scandal last year, it was revealed that Becta CEO Stephen Crowne had made £30,000 of expense claims, including £388 for a TomTom satellite navigation system for his car. The news came as part of an investigation into the spending habits of council chiefs and quangocrats by the Times newspaper, which also revealed that Crowne was on an annual salary of £220,000.