Becta axed as part of spending cuts

Becta, the government agency for driving forward the take-up of IT in schools will be scrapped.

The move to axe the quango, which has operating costs of £65m annually, forms part of the Government's public spending reductions of £6.2bn.

However what will happen to programmes and schemes run by Becta, such as the Home Access drive to provide laptops and broadband to low income families is unclear.

Graham Badman, chairman and Stephen Crowne, chief executive of Becta said: “ Naturally we are very disappointed at the Government’s decision.

"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 was set up in 1998 as a non departmental agency of the then Department for Children, Schools and Family.

Its stated objectives were "to influence strategic direction and development of national education policy to best take advantage of technology". In that capacity, the quango said it did a lot to raise standards and save schools money.

However as with many quangos it has been earmarked for execution under the new Government as part of spending cuts. A representative for the Department for Education said that now schools will have more control over what they believe is the best technology for them.

“They are better placed to know what to buy. They know the people, the lessons they want to deliver and there are other sources of information such as Teachernet that can give advice,” a representative for the Department for Education said.

Programmes and schemes run by Becta could also be axed. One such scheme, launched in January, is the Home Access drive, which provides laptops and broadband to low-income families.

Pilots of the Home Access scheme were run between February 2009 and July 2009 in Oldham and Suffolk; according to Becta’s website with great success.

It said a total of 4,271 Home Access grants were issued in Oldham during this time. The aim was to provide funding to more than 270,000 households by March 2011.

Neither Becta nor the Department for Education could or would comment on the future of the Home Access scheme.