What Becta's closure means for IT in Schools

The closure of Becta, which was set up in 1998 by Labour to promote learning through the use of technology, is expected to save the Department for Education £80m between 2010 and 2011.
Paul Evans, managing director of Redstor, a backup and data management vendor that works with 85 Local Authorities (LAs), said the government's decision did not come as a shock.

He said: It is terrible news for the people who will lose their jobs, but these are austere times we are living in now and Becta is a luxury we cannot afford.

Evans predicts that removing Becta, and its accompanying IT procurement framework, will be warmly welcomed by niche vendors that have struggled to find favour with the agency.
In order to get on the framework, you had to prove to Becta that you could deliver a full range of IT services, making it difficult for firms that focus on one or two areas to get a look in, he said.
Potentially, this could present smaller, niche vendors with the opportunity to catch the attention of the public sector.