Archived decisions

Note of a Meeting of the SCRUTINY PANEL 3 of the POLICY AND RESOURCES SCRUTINY AND SELECT COMMITTEE to consider ICT held on 25 November 2005.

Councillors

p R. Baulk (Chairman)

Councillors:

a A.P. Collett a S James

p K. Evans p A Weeks

The Chairman welcomed David Woodward, Head of Education ICT who submitted a summary report setting out the EdICT Business Unit's role and functions and then responded to questions.

The main areas covered were:

Councillor Kendal's previous investigation into EdICT

This had been conducted informally, with a review of the business plan and service level agreement (SLA) which had resulted in the EdICT business being back on a sound financial basis at a cost which could be afforded by schools.

Charging

The SLA had been reviewed to keep it up to date and to meet schools' needs. The main elements such as management information (SIMS) were fixed and predictable whereas other elements were pay as you go and therefore more volatile in terms of income. The revised SLA shares risk more equitably between EdICT and schools, the aim being for income from schools to cover EdICT's costs.

How many schools subscribe?

Almost all subscribe to the principal elements and only 5 do not buy in at all and obtain all their ICT support either through their own staff or a third party.

Balance between standards and costs

The revised SLA now takes account of school size and real levels of IT usage, with the result that there are no longer unfair costs to small infant or primary schools.

Is there competition in the market?

Yes, schools can do their own thing or can engage IT consultancies to provide the service if they wish, but the majority find that EdICT provides the service at a cost they are prepared to pay. There is competition and schools often get quotes for new hardware or networks, for which EdICT is competitive in terms of price and service.

Management Information System report by BECTA (British Educational Communication and Technology Agency - the DfES `quango' for ICT in Education)

A DfES initiative aimed at driving down the costs of management information. It aims to secure inter-operability between all schools and to establish national standards for procurement. The pressure from DfES on schools is to encourage them towards independence. Perhaps that means central control rather than local control.

SIMS Management Information System

This is the core service in which about 20 EdICT staff members are involved but supported by other technical and administrative support staff. It provides consistently presented management information. Other systems can be used by schools, but it can be costly and complicated to convert the format to provide nationally required information.

Relationships between EdICT and IT Services

Is there duplication? Possibly there is in the area of helpdesks where integration between EdICT/IT Services helpdesks could provide a more cost effective and seamless service. Exploratory work is underway to assess this. The role and responsibilities are very different - IT Services more geared towards office-based systems of the County Council corporately (e.g. SAP, IT 2000); whereas EdICT concentrates on the SIMS Management Information System and fundamentally on IT infrastructure for curriculum development in schools in partnership with Hampshire Inspection and Advisory Service.

Partnership

Maybe there is scope for the relationship between County Council departments and central IT Services to move more towards the partnership, customer-focused model operated by EdICT, who have found it productive to focus on users' needs and to meet them at competitive cost. Therefore, EdICT spend very little on marketing.

Procurement

The Panel asked for a note of the total number of pupils, teachers, staff and others in schools requiring IT support, and details were provided subsequently in two memos from the Director of Children's Services. The grand total was in the region of 20,000 staff in varying categories supporting a total of 172,000 pupils. The sheer scale of numbers meant that there were great advantages to be derived from EdICT's buying power through the corporate contract with DELL. Most schools are persuaded of the logic of that approach, given the need to bear in mind the total cost of ownership - a cheap deal from another supplier may not be good value for money in the long run when high maintenance and support costs are taken into account.

EdICT Staff Numbers

Grand total of 90 - structure chart to be forwarded to Members by Director of Children's Services.

Other salient points

· Development of an interface between the different parts of the Children's Services Department - the old Education Department and the children/families social care element formerly in Social Services - the IT support needs to be integrated.

· Incessant demands from DfES for more management information, statistics, data collection etc.

· Little scope for efficiency savings as EdICT relies on schools for all its income - and is constantly seeking efficiency - if it wasn't cost-effective they could go elsewhere.

· Some large secondary schools have their own IT support and network managers.

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