PRESS RELEASE - [Education, Technology, Government Spending]
For Immediate Release

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Local Authorities are wasting millions of pounds on software licences
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London 8th October 2007 - The "damning" results of a survey of Local Authorities undertaken by Liberal Democrat MP John Pugh shows that many have no real idea how much money is being spent on IT within their schools.

With a parliamentary adjournment debate on ICT procurement set for 9th October, the same day the Chancellor of the Exchequer presents his pre-budget report and the comprehensive spending review, the survey raises particular concern at the amount being spent on software licences with some Local Authorities confirming spending as much as ½ million pounds a year.

The survey also found that while almost 50% of Local Authorities are using some form of open source software within their schools there is no apparent systematic strategy to get best value from such procurement. Only 3 of the respondents, Cumbria, East Yorkshire and Lancashire, offer an open source solution as a standard learning platform throughout their area.

John Pugh MP commented "The responses make for interesting reading. It became obvious that many local authorities do not know how much money they can save on software because they have no clear understanding of how much they are currently spending."

John went on to add "I think these findings give a worrying example of how this government is wasting millions of pounds of taxpayer's money and is incapable of providing strategic leadership for LAs in achieving sustained best value. There is plenty of evidence of significant savings from adopting open source solutions such as the Government's own survey conducted by BECTA in 2005, widespread deployment in Extremadura in Spain and strategies in progress in Georgia, Russia and Macedonia. Despite these there is no pilot, no trials  and no strategy here. Our schools are becoming a technological back-water locked into to yesterday's technologies."

With an adjournment debate on ICT procurement set for the 9th October it's time we take a hard look at whether we are getting what's best for the UK."

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NOTES TO EDITORS
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• Of the 59 local authorities which responded, 37 said they keep no information on the amount spent by schools on IT provision and procurement. Of particular concern is the amount being spent on software licences. Only 11 LAs were able to say how much their schools are spending on licences, two confirmed spending as much as £½ million per year and the average is more than £¼ million per year. If these figures are typical – then it could be said that schools in England
spend more than £40 million each year on software licences.

• In 2002 the Spanish region of Extremadura migrated 70,000 desktops and 400 servers in schools across the region onto open source, saving an estimated €18m. In complete contrast, some English LAs advise schools not to seek to save money by deploying open source software.

• The Open Schools Alliance is a campaigning organisation supported by educationalists, technical experts and open source businesses. We are united by the common belief that the UK could enhance education, save taxpayers' money and strengthen its IT sector by treating Open Source Software fairly.

• John Pugh was responsible for tabling the Early Day Motion "Software in Schools" (EDM 179) which received cross party support from over 130 MP's earlier this year.  Details of the EDM together with which MP's signed it can be found at:  http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=31752

• A "Success in Education" Conference, organised by the Open Schools Alliance, will be held in Liverpool on the 19th October, and will showcase successful deployments of free & open source software in education worldwide. The event will provide the opportunity for attendees to have direct dialogues with leading experts from the ICT and Education arenas together with demonstrations of the leading software solutions. For further information or to register for the event please visit  http://www.openschoolsalliance.org/

• Contact:
osa-press@openschoolsalliance.org       
0044 (0) 7906 711635    
0044 (0) 870 0202 111