EdReNe Strategy meeting, Copenhagen Andrew Kitchen – Senior Architect, Becta 7 th October, 2010 Becta exit strategy and its assets

Items I will be covering today…. This presentation aims to provide a brief overview of the following: 1.What has been going on at Becta? o What has happened so far? o What is the process going forward? o Will any functions be kept? o Where will all the valuable research and evidence base go? 2.Becta activity exit plans, from my area, including: o Content Packaging o Interactive Whiteboard Common File Format o Content Ecosystem o IPR & Copyright

1.What has been going on at Becta? o 11 th May – New Conservative Government took office o 24 th May – Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Education, announced his intention to close Becta

Becta response Graham Badman, Chairman and Stephen Crowne, Chief Executive of Becta responded: “Naturally we are very disappointed at the Government’s decision. Becta is a very effective organisation with an international reputation, delivering valuable services to schools, colleges and children. Our procurement arrangements save the schools and colleges many times more than Becta costs to run. Our Home Access programme will give laptops and broadband to over 200,000 of the poorest children. Our top priorities now are to make sure we have an orderly and fair process for staff, and that as far as possible schools, colleges and children continue to benefit from the savings and support that Becta has provided. We will be talking to Government Departments and our other stakeholders including the industry about this.”

Since then…. o Statutory 90 days of staff consultation o Discussions with the Becta Board, The Department for Education, The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and other organisations covering: i.Limiting the number of compulsory redundancies ii.Looking after the needs of staff at risk of redundancy iii.Introducing an Early Release Scheme for staff iv.Ensure orderly transfer of any functions to persist post closure v.Ensuring the objectives of Becta are upheld, as a charitable organisation vi.Ensure the efficient closure of the organisation by March 2011

What we can share with you…. o Some functions within Becta will be transferred to other Government bodies and shall continue. o Other functions will not be and shall cease by the date of closure. o We are undertaking Expressions of Interest (EOI) for our assets….. i.Some will not be available due to functions transferring from Becta to other Government bodies ii.Some will be sold iii.Some will be undergo a non-fee based transfer of ownership iv.Some will be charitably donated v.It is expected the majority of electronic assets will be released as either Creative Commons or Crown Copyright and archived, where none of the above apply.

2.Becta activity exit plans o There are still various things that are being considered. o The members of my team are committed to ensuring we exit/transfer or support industry in the best way possible before Becta closes. o Becta’s legacy is an important consideration in all areas.

a)Content Packaging o UK SALTIS industry body supported taking the work forward o A case for IMS Common Cartridge was put forward o ASPECT experience was mentioned o IMS support offered for Common Cartridge adoption within UK o SALTIS decided Common Cartridge was too radical a change without runtime support o Members wanted to take the work along a different line but wanted to work with IMS to achieve convergence over time o IMS have said some kind of runtime support is in the schedule for the future

b)Interactive Whiteboard Common File Format o UK Government still want this work to continue o The UK’s Information Standards Board (ISB) has issued a letter to all suppliers that details the support even without Becta being around in the future o We have been encouraging collaboration for interoperability and for suppliers to undertake testing with each other o IMS are hoping to support suppliers o The EUN working group is continuing and will be moving it forward o For further information do speak to Will Ellis or Jim Ayre

c)Content Ecosystem o There is no longer funding for this project from the UK Government and this is unlikely to change as it currently stands. o Consultation has begun with keen industry organisations in regard to what can be done without UK Government funding or leadership. o As a minimum Becta will set the process of collaboration in motion. o One or more industry organisations may be keen on taking this work forward in a leadership capacity to facilitate collaboration. o There is good recognition and appetite within industry to do something, even if it is something ‘small’ as a first step.

d)IPR and Copyright o Currently is unclear as to what will happen…. o Most appropriate route would be either undertake this within the Department for Education or to transfer to another Government body that has interest to pursue it. o If it is not transferred to another organisation the documents associated with all work Becta has completed to this date will be subject to the EOI process.

Contact… Andrew Kitchen Becta Millburn Hill Road Science Park Coventry CV4 7JJ T+44 (0) F+44 (0)