Becta | Board meeting – Paper 4 -Chief Executive’s Report

Paper 4 - Chief Executive’s Report to the Board, March 2007

Key Issues

  1. This report is structured in the same way as the last full report, provided to the Board in January:

A brief introductory section from me

Headlines from the period since the last board meeting

The performance report

Strategic risk log, as reviewed by the audit committee in February, and by the Executive in March

Finance report

Introduction

  1. The main focus of the Executive Director team over the last period has been to drive forward business planning, on the basis of an increasingly clear remit and priorities from the Department, and better understanding of what we need to do to lead and support the delivery of the Government’s e-strategy.
  2. The Executive Director team had a successful discussion with the whole staff on 6 March at which we explained that the right sequencing was to clarify remit and what we needed to do in precise business planning terms, then to develop our structure and ways of working to deliver that business. I made clear that this would result in organisational change, through a carefully managed process going into the summer.
  3. It is clearly very important to avoid focusing on internal issues at the expense of key external engagement. We are continuing to prioritise areas which have a major impact on the reputation of ‘new Becta’, for example –
  • High levels of engagement with and responsiveness to DfES policy leads;
  • Leading and supporting Jim Knight’s task force on Home Access, which met for the first time on 7 March;
  • The first of our regional conferences on 15 March.

Headlines

Personalised Content

  1. The analysis of our stakeholder engagement has resulted in the definition of a Personalised Content ‘System’ model to encapsulate key interactions along with an ‘enabling environment’ that identifies initial key priority areas to support the development. Scenario modelling is being used to illustrate and validate the future operating environment. A strategic plan with long and short term actions will be completed by the end of March and supported by a full report providing justification for the approach.

BBC Jam review

  1. Since our last report on the Jam review, the BBC Trust (the BBCs new independent governing body) now proposes to lead the review of Jam material either already launched or due to be launched between January 2006 and the end of 2007. It is an interim review to assess individual commissions for distinctiveness and complementarity prior to the completion of a full review of the Jam service by the Trust commencing no later than June 2007. The Content Advisory Board is still required to play a key role in developing the methodology and criteria for assessment, and advising the Trust on whether each commission has satisfied the requirements as to complementarity and distinctiveness.
  2. The methodology is now complete, having taken views from Ofcom, the Trust and industry, and has been forwarded to Government for inclusion in its submission to the European Commission. Discussions with the Trust and industry about the proposed approach have been challenging; whilst some changes have been made in response to their views we have continued to ensure the methodology is independent and robust.
  3. There is a risk that the Trust will not accept CAB’s methodology and withdraw from the review and it is also possible that the EC may consider these arrangements to be too little too late. In both cases, the effect is likely to be the closure of the Jam service and the end of CABs/Becta’s work in this area.
  4. Subsequent to this report being written, the BBC Trust have issued a press release about BBC Jam, which is attached with these papers.

Security of ICT equipment

  1. With the growing use of technology in the classrooms, high value equipment has become a target for thieves. Although the majority of equipment can be locked away, by their very nature fixed overhead projectors cannot. The impact of projector theft for educational institutions not only covers the loss of equipment but cost in terms of damage to school property and lost teaching time, as well as spiralling insurance costs.
  2. Becta have worked with the Home Office, Police, Department for Education and Skills, Local Authorities, Loss Prevention Certification Board (LCPB) and equipment manufacturers to tackle this growing issue.
  3. The approach is to introduce distinctively coloured orange projectors together with a range of security features including, removable components that render the projector inoperable if it is removed from the electrical supply, use of PIN numbers, better labelling with the emphasis of overt marking and security coding.
  4. All of the major data projector manufacturers are actively involved in developing products for the education market place to increase security of equipment.
  5. The initiative is delivering real benefit and in the London Borough of Havering annual ICT thefts from schools exceeded £150,000 a year. The borough introduced orange projectors, linked to other security measures such as etched and forensic marking. The new equipment and markings were extensively publicised to young people and the community. In the year following this initiative burglary rates plummeted.
  6. Becta, working in conjunction with the LPCB will be issuing a set of security standards which will cover fixed and portable ICT devices. Products will eventually be given a security rating so that schools can make a more informed choice when purchasing equipment.

Marketing & Communications

  1. We issued for the first time funding guidance to all schools on how they should spend their allocated funds on ICT provision. Key audiences included school head teachers, Directors of Children’s Services, framework suppliers and partner agencies.
  2. Research findings from this year’s BETT indicated an 8 point increase in awareness of Becta among delegates and 93% of those attending our seminars and ICT Excellence Awards day reported positively on their experience.
  3. Work progresses on building a comprehensive media contacts database in order to increase Becta’s ‘footprint’ among journalists. A more proactive approach to media relations is resulting in an increase in press enquiries (a month-on-month doubling since February). I met with Geraldine Hackett from The Sunday Times to provide a background briefing.
  4. Internally, we held an all-staff briefing and workshop for line managers around our draft annual objectives for 2007/08. We also communicated to staff Becta’s new remit.

Working with the UK countries

  1. Becta is a UK agency and although most of our grant is from the DfES we have a continuing remit to work with Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.Much of our work with them is to support their own policy and strategy discussions with expertise and evidence, and of course all of our web-based and print publications are available to them and their schools and colleges. They also, where appropriate, buy-in to different aspects of Becta’s operational work:for instance Northern Ireland has worked with us on using the self review framework for their schools. Currently a member of the senior team acts as the link to each country to identify its needs and to build these into Becta’s work. These arrangementsare formally set out in a Memorandum of Understanding with each country. With Becta’s developing role it is appropriate to review these arrangements. We have already had discussions with each country and we will bring these together with further meetings into a considered review which will further develop our UK relationships to ensure that:
  • Becta has links at the right levels within each devolved administration and is able to support the policy and strategy needs of each country – and does do so.
  • Becta enables good knowledge transfer between all four UK Education Department countries on lessons learnt and future directions for their education systems.
  1. It would be helpful if the Board could consider its role with the other countries and we suggest that we invite key people from each country to discuss with the Board the different developments happening there on a rotating basis. This will be particularly important as the Board begins to focus on the futures agenda.

Becta’s Performance report

Current performance

Executive Summary

A. Delivery Outcomes

Status: Amber/Red

We will not achieve the interim April 07 target of 11,350 (50%) of institutions opting to use and progress through the Self Review Framework; but the figure currently stands at 6,598 from an April 06 launch and is continuing to rise, with a trendline which could achieve the target for April 08. The Board review in February indicated that the management actions could achieve a substantial part of this, but asked the Executive to consider what policy and other changes outside its control were needed to fully meet the target.
Whilst the development of the standards and procurement frameworks for the technological infrastructure is generally on track the indicators for adoption have have a strong negative trend against targets. The number of best value procurements being made as a percentage of overall spend is worryingly continuing to decrease. The London adoption programme is behind target and the amount of savings made looks as though it is plateauing off. This is a worrying set of indicators and the Board review of strategic technologies is a timely discussion.

Management Action: Following the Board discussion on the SRF a range of management actions will be carried out in line with our new operational plan. These include negotiations with partners to reinforce the importance of their contributions, and focussed consultancy with LA’s to support them in promoting the SRF locally. Decisions on the management actions on the strategic technologies performance will follow discussion at the March Board.

B. Efficiency and Productivity

Status:Green

Becta is still on track to deliver the £270,000 efficiency savings agreed with the DfES. Becta also measures and reports on the e-learning efficiency targets for the whole education system on behalf of the DfES. These are broadly on track.

C. Customer Perception

Status:Amber/Green

As reported last time Becta has implemented a regular tracking survey to allow it to monitor awareness and perceptions of its work. No new high-level data is available since the last report , though some key milestones are reported.

D. Capacity

Status:Amber/Green

Becta’s organisational change programme is still in the process of finalising needs for the future. The current delivery requirements are being met by recruitment to key posts where it is clear these will be required for the future, by contract staff, or by contracts for services. No new data is available since the previous report.

Management Action: Following the appointment of the Executive Directors we are reviewing the shape of the organisation and developing it further in the light of the new remit and direction. This work will be accelerated through the Fit for the Future change programme.

E. System Reform

Status: Amber /Green

Becta’s strategy continues to be to set out its work as the lead agency for the development and delivery of the DfES’s e-strategy and to underpin DfES’s strategic direction. It has carried out a extensive number of meetings with key policy leads across the Department and is now beginning to develop a programme of supporting these policy teams to embed technology into their work.

A: Delivery outcomes

Status: Amber/Red

Board Summary: We will not achieve the interim April 07 target of 11,350 (50%) of institutions opting to use and progress through the Self Review Framework; but the figure currently stands at 6,598 from an April 06 launch and is continuing to rise, with a trendline which could achieve the target for April 08. The Board review in February indicated that the management actions could achieve a substantial part of this, but asked the Executive to consider what policy and other changes outside its control were needed to fully meet the target..

Whilst the development of the standards and procurement frameworks for the technological infrastructure is generally on track the indicators for adoption have have a strong negative trend against targets. The number of best value procurements being made as a percentage of overall spend is worryingly continuing to decrease. The London adoption programme is behind target and the amount of savings made looks as though it is plateauing off. This is a worrying set of indicators and the Board review of strategic technologies is a timely discussion.

Management Action: Following the Board discussion on the SRF a range of management actions will be carried out in line with our new operational plan. These include negotiations with partners to reinforce the importance of their contributions, and focussed consultancy with LA’s to support them in promoting the SRF locally. Decisions on the management actions on the strategic technologies performance will follow discussion at the March Board.

A1. Institutional Development through self review

Measure:Number of institutions thatsign-up to SRF. This graph also shows projection of sign-up to 2008.

Target:By March 2007 11,350 institutions (50% of schools and colleges) to be using Becta’s self review tools and progressing through the self review framework.. We also report the number of schools awarded Becta’s ‘ICT Mark’.The target for this year is 1000 schools.

Results:By the end of February 2007,6,598 schools were signed up to the SRF. This represents 29% of all schools in England. This is behind target and has been identified as a high level risk by the E-maturity programme board. A total of 653 schools have been awarded the ICT Mark.


Status:Amber

A2. Strategic Technology: Standards and frameworks

Target:By December 2006, functional and technical standards issued and framework agreements will be available.

Measure:Progress through standards development and implementation.

Baseline: By March 2006 we had achieved those marked in green.

Results:

Development

Milestone / Infrastr. services / Connect. Services / Data services / Learn. services
Initial standards drafted /  /  / () / 
Consultation in progress /  /  /  / 
Consultation completed /  /  /  / 
Standards amended or redrafted /  /  /  / 
Standards finalised /  /  /  / 

Implementation

Milestone / Infrastr. services / Connect. Services / Data services / Learn. services
Framework agreements available /  / See note /  / 
Partners and agents identified /  /  / 
Partners working with Becta /  /  / 

Notes:

Although the table is not completed many partners are now working with Becta on Infrastructure and Data services via the proof of concept and other related activities.

Due to the level of investment and infrastructure already in place with RBCs, LAs and SuperJANET a cross-sector approach has been taken to the provision of connectivity services rather than Becta running a separate framework agreement for connectivity services.

The case for development of a Data Services framework is being revisited by the programme board, with a view to replacing it with an accreditation process. A new project plan and roadmap will be ready by mid April, which will set out revised project goals, outputs and timings.

Status:Amber

A3. Strategic Technology. Local authorities engaging with Becta

Target:By March 2007, we will have identified and be working with delivery partners and procurement agents in London.

Measure: Local authorities in London are working with Becta, engaging with Becta activities.


Results:Becta has initiated a number of activities to engage Local Authorities and encourage them to use framework agreements, including workshops, briefings and support advisors. All Boroughs are now aware of the issue, and increasing numbers are actively engaged in the process.

The map below shows awareness and engagement among the London authorities.

Status:Amber

A4. Strategic Technology National architecture

Target:By March 2007, 60% of schools are making progress towards conformance to the national architecture.

Measure:The number of schools using Becta’s self review framework are using it to benchmark and track progress in relation to the national architecture by using the ‘resources’ element of the self review framework.

Baseline:For the initial cohort of schools on the SRF this figure was 33%

Results:According to current reports,1,673schools are using the resources element of the SRF, constituting25% of the total sign-up to the SRF.This is behind target and has been identified as a high level risk by the Strategic Technologies programme board.

Status:Red

A5. Underpinning Technology –Test readiness

Target:By March 2007, 100% of secondary schools to achieve the level of technical readiness to take KS3 online test.

Measure:Secondary schools have infrastructure and software systems in place ready to take KS3 online tests.

Baseline:For KS3 readiness the April figure was 49%

Results:The graph shows the proportion of secondary schools which are ready to take online tests. In December this was reported at 2,929 secondary schools, or 82% of the total. The team report that this has now reached 99%.

Status:Green

A6. Strategic Technology – Savings and best value (across the system)

Target:By March 2007, Becta has achieved recyclable efficiency savings of £25 million through best value purchase arrangements with 35% of total expenditure on school educational technology transacted through best value agreements.

Measure: i)Savings attributable to Becta according to OGC.

ii) Proportion of total educational ICT expenditure via best-value agreements.

Baseline: Last year we reported cumulative savings of £29M between March 2005 and March 2006.

Results(i): For the three-month period Oct-Dec 2006, a total saving of £4.4m was achieved through Becta agreements in accordance with OGC guidelines. The amount saved March-Dec 2006 was £15.1m.