'Inefficient' £180m school IT spend faces overhaul

High software licensing and support costs, the dominance of one supplier and poor interoperability are being blamed for the inefficient use of the £180m spent each year by UK schools on management information systems (MIS).

The government's educational communications and technology agency Becta has recommended an overhaul of the current procurement system in an attempt to make better use of the money.

MIS systems relate to the IT software and services used by schools to manage things such as assessments, attendance, asset management and pupil data.

Becta's review found increases in the order of 300 per cent in licensing costs of products from the dominant MIS supplier Capita Education Services over the past three years, and raised concerns about software quality and support costs.

Becta claims there are "considerable impediments" to getting value for money out of the £180m spent on MIS systems, with £55m being diverted purely to support costs.

The report said: "There was evidence that the scale of presence in the marketplace of the dominant supplier raised questions in the minds of some schools and local education authorities about the long-term commercial intent of the other providers, thus mitigating against moving between suppliers."

Changes to the current technical framework and procurement model could save £72m per year, according to one IT industry respondent in the report.

Becta has made nine recommendations that could be introduced by the government next year, which include setting up a new procurement framework for the supply of MIS systems and the introduction of open technical standards to aid interoperability and reduce support costs.

These recommendations have been accepted by ministers, and Becta will now work with the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) on a plan of action.

Owen Lynch, chief executive of Becta, said: "Addressing the range of factors that are barriers at a national, regional, and institutional level to maximising the benefits that MIS systems can bring is complex but essential. School MIS systems have a critical role to play in realising the ambitions set out by the DfES in its five-year strategy for children and learners."

Capita said it has been working with Becta for the last 18 months to address the points raised by the report but criticised the accuracy and small sample of responses contained in it.

A statement said: "Capita enjoys an extremely good working relationship with LEAs and schools, and we are disappointed that such a small, unrepresentative sample of responses was used as evidence in the report. There are a number of significant inaccuracies regarding our position and we will be clarifying these issues with Becta."