Editing Becta

{{Use British English|date=September 2012}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{Infobox organization
|name                = British Educational Communications Technology Agency
|image               = Becta logo.png
|abbreviation        = Becta
|type                = Non-departmental government organisation, charitable limited company
|purpose             = Promotion and integration of ICT in education
|formation           = 1998
|dissolved           = dissolved {{End date|2011}}
|location            = Millburn Hill Road, [[Canley]], [[Coventry]], UK in the [[University of Warwick Science Park]]
|region_served       = UK
|membership          =
|leader_title        = Chief Executives
|leader_name         = Owen Lynch, Stephen Crowne
|affiliations        =
}}

'''Becta''', originally known as the '''British Educational Communications and Technology Agency''', was a [[non-departmental public body]] (popularly known as a [[Quango]]) funded by the [[Department for Education]] and its predecessor departments, in the United Kingdom. It was a charity and a [[company limited by guarantee]]. The abolition of Becta was announced in the [[Spending Review#2010 Spending Review|May 2010 post-election spending review]].<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8699522.stm George Osborne outlines detail of £6.2bn spending cuts] BBC News, 24 May 2010</ref> Government funding was discontinued in March 2011. Becta went into liquidation in April 2011.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/business-12932140|title=Schools quango closes its doors|last=Simpson|first=Emma|date=2011-04-01|publisher=BBC News|access-date=2017-10-24|language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/may/24/becta-government-closure|title=Government to close Becta|editor-last=Arthur|editor-first=Charles|date=2010-05-24|work=The Guardian|access-date=2017-10-24|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

==Role==
Becta was the lead agency in the United Kingdom for the promotion and integration of [[ICT (education)|information and communications technology]] (ICT) in education.<ref name=":0" /> Becta was a company limited by guarantee with charitable status. It was established in 1998 through the reconstitution of the [[National Council for Educational Technology]] (NCET), which oversaw the procurement of all ICT equipment and [[e-learning]] strategy for schools.

== Policy ==
Foremost among the 2005–2008 Becta strategic objectives were "to influence strategic direction and development of national education policy to best take advantage of technology" and "to develop a national digital infrastructure and resources strategy leading to greater national coherence."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://about.becta.org.uk/display.cfm?page=1748|title=Strategic objectives|accessdate=20 November 2006|date=2005–2008 |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20060718110019/http://about.becta.org.uk/display.cfm?page=1748 |archivedate = 18 July 2006}}</ref>

==National Grid for Learning==
The [[National Grid for Learning]] (NGfL) was managed by Becta and was set up as a gateway to educational resources to support schools and colleges across the UK. The NGfL portal was launched in November 1998, as one of several new programmes initiated by the new Labour government which took office in May 1997 and had a linked budget of earmarked funds to be spent on schools' internet connections and ICT.

==Purchasing Frameworks==
Becta awarded certain vendors placement on approved "purchasing frameworks": 
{{Blockquote|The frameworks are awarded in accordance with EU procurement legislation... against a range of criteria based around quality of provision and service, and against the extent to which they meet the requirements of the functional and technical specifications – specifications that have been developed in conjunction with all stakeholders, including members of the open source community...<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.businessreviewonline.com/os/archives/2006/11/becta_denies_op.html |title=Becta denies open source school barriers |date=23 November 2006 |publisher=Computer Business Review |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070206190125/http://www.businessreviewonline.com/os/archives/2006/11/becta_denies_op.html |archivedate=6 February 2007 }}</ref>}}

The purchasing frameworks were criticised as being outdated, and for effectively denying schools the option of benefiting from both free and open source and the value and experience of small and medium ICT companies.<ref name="osedm">{{cite web|url=http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=31752&SESSION=885|title=Software in Schools|date=21 November 2006|publisher=UK Parliament|accessdate=7 January 2007|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070218092156/http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=31752&SESSION=885|archivedate=18 February 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref> Participating companies had to have a net worth of at least £700,000 to qualify and had to satisfy a list of functional requirements.<ref>{{cite web
 |url=http://industry.becta.org.uk/content_files/industry/resources/Specification_key_docs/functional_req_learning_platforms_v1.1.pdf
 |date=3 May 2006
 |title=Learning platform functional requirements version 1
 |publisher=Becta
 |url-status=dead
 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060715011717/http://industry.becta.org.uk/content_files/industry/resources/Specification_key_docs/functional_req_learning_platforms_v1.1.pdf
 |archivedate=15 July 2006
 }}</ref> A concern was raised about the "over-comfortable relationship the government has with some of the bigger players."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://education.guardian.co.uk/elearning/story/0,,1985425,00.html|title=Open source argument|date=9 January 2007|work=The Guardian|accessdate=10 January 2007| archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20070112052453/http://education.guardian.co.uk/elearning/story/0%2C%2C1985425%2C00.html| archivedate= 12 January 2007 | url-status= live}}</ref>

In January 2007, Crispin Weston, who had helped Becta draw up the criteria used to select suppliers, asked the EC Competition Commission to investigate his allegation that a significant number of the successful tenders had failed to implement the mandatory functional requirements, including particular aspects of inter-operability.<ref name="euinvest">{{cite news|url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/08/becta_ec_complaint/|title=Becta's schools software scheme reported to EC|author=Mark Ballard|date=8 January 2007|publisher=The Register|accessdate=7 February 2007| archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20070210003910/https://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/08/becta_ec_complaint/| archivedate= 10 February 2007 | url-status= live}}</ref> He also added in his letter to the Commission that they should take action on the further issue of:
{{Blockquote|[T]he insistence that many different categories of software within a particular school or Local Authority should all be supplied by a single supplier [which] has serious anti-competitive implications."<ref name="westoneu">{{cite web|url=http://www.alphalearning.co.uk/ojeu.htm|author=Crispin Weston|publisher=Alpha Learning|title=Becta's Learning Platform Procurement|date=5 January 2007|accessdate=7 February 2007|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070128193252/http://www.alphalearning.co.uk/ojeu.htm|archivedate=28 January 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref>}}

==See also==
* [[Self-review framework]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110125093552/http://www.becta.org.uk/ Archived Becta website]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20111007235556/http://www.generatorfeandskills.co.uk/ Generator – technology improvement leadership tool for FE and Skills]
* [http://dera.ioe.ac.uk/ Digital Education Resource Archive (DERA)] holds an archive of Becta publications.

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Computer science education in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Department for Education]]
[[Category:Defunct public bodies of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Education in Coventry]]
[[Category:Governmental educational technology organizations]]
[[Category:Information technology education]]
[[Category:Information technology organisations based in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Organisations based in Coventry]]
[[Category:Organizations established in 1998]]
[[Category:Organizations disestablished in 2011]]
[[Category:Public education in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:University of Warwick]]
[[Category:1998 establishments in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:2011 disestablishments in the United Kingdom]]