Scrapping Becta to save tens of millions

Education minister Nick Gibb has said the abolition of the educational technology agency will save £10m this year, from total Department for Education (DfE) quango savings of £80m. It was expected to provide a more substantial proportion of the figure, but Gibb, responding to a parliamentary written question from Labour MP Ed Balls about the estimated savings, said the savings would increase. He said the £10m will be saved "after all costs have been met, and the savings in subsequent years will be £65m per year". In late May HM Treasury announced that as part of government plans to cut an extra £6.2bn from public spending this year, it would recoup "£80m from closing Becta and other savings in Department for Education quangos". A spokesperson for the Department for Education told GC News that, despite the wording of the Treasury's announcement, the majority of this year's £80m savings will be generated through cuts to the department's other non-departmental public bodies. Becta, formerly known as the British Educational and Communications Technology Association, was set up in 1988 to promote the effective use of ICT in education.