Commentary:Becta

Becta (formerly known as the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency) was a non-departmental public body of the vuni:Department for Children, Schools and Families in the UK and was classified as a "quango". In the post-election spending review in May 2010, it was announced by the Government that Becta was abolished. The organisation ceased obtaining any taxpayer funding from 1 June 2010 and will finally close in March 2011 when the remaining few staff depart. All activity has now essentially ceased.

In particular the CAPITAL project was cut short in its 3rd year and the further international work proposed could not take place.

For more details see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Becta and vuni:Becta

Implications for VISCED
There will no longer be any need or point to liaise with Becta. However, some functions of Becta are being transferred into the new Department for Education (DfE) and so liaison with DfE will be increased. In addition, although in England Becta was the lead agency for ICT in schools, there are other relevant agencies, institutions and companies who may take up some of the slack, especially for the college sector.

Furthermore, England is just one of the four home nations of the UK and in the others, the agencies analogous to Becta are unchanged - thus liaison will continue with these.

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