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WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR CHILDREN AND EDUCATION BY SENATOR T.A. VALLOIS
QUESTION SUBMITTED ON MONDAY 17th MAY 2021
ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON MONDAY 24th MAY 2021
Question
Will the Minister state –
- the total capital and revenue expenditure on Information Technology (I.T.) projects and / or maintenance over the last 5 years by the Children, Young People, Education and Skills Department (C.Y.P.E.S.);
- whether this expenditure is equivalent to the £2.1 million transfer between Heads of Expenditure from C.Y.P.E.S. to the Chief Operating Office – Modernisation and Digital Department (M&D) made by the Minister for Treasury and Resources in May 2021; and
- how this expenditure will assist with improvements specifically to the I.T. curriculum in schools over the next 5-10 years?
Answer
- The table below shows forecast revenue expenditure on IT projects and maintenance for 2021 and actual expenditure for the 5 previous years.
CYPES Revenue spend | Forecast 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 |
IT BAU Revenue transferring to COO-M&D | 2,083,000 | 2,608,498 | 2,567,528 | 2,597,237 | 2,771,363 | 2,979,928 |
IT BAU Revenue remaining with CYPES | 895,000 | 636,609 | 458,597 | 377,942 | 230,604 | 157,414 |
IT Project Mgt remaining with CYPES | 307,000 | 314,680 | 284,385 | 275,795 | 321,326 | 126,562 |
Grand Total | 3,285,000 | 3,559,787 | 3,310,510 | 3,250,974 | 3,323,293 | 3,263,904 |
The table below shows capital expenditure in 2021 and the previous 4 years. The spend in 2020 was largely the infrastructure for the new Les Quennevais School and in 2021 was the infrastructure associated with Phase 5 of the Grainville School project. There is no further IT capital expenditure budgeted for 2021 or approved in the Government Plan.
CYPES Capital spend | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 |
Implementation Costs | 13,475 | 3,300 |
|
|
|
Tng - Integral Software Dev | 0 | 0 | 121,320 | 121,320 | 121,320 |
Computer Hardware | 314,877 | 296,769 | 33,106 | 33,106 |
|
Intg - Software Development |
| 121,320 |
|
|
|
Total Capital | 328,352 | 421,389 | 154,426 | 154,426 | 121,320 |
- This expenditure is not equivalent to the £2.1 million budget transfer from CYPES to COO-M&D approved in May 2021.
The transfer of budgets follows the agreed transfer of responsibilities between the two Departments.
63% of the revenue budget is transferring from CYPES to COO – M&D and there is no remaining capital budget. The table below shows the split of the revenue budget between the portion transferring and the portion being retained.
Total Revenue IT budget | 3,285,000 | % |
|
|
|
Transferring to COO-M&D | 2,083,000 | 63% |
Remaining with CYPES | 1,202,000 | 37% |
- The CYPES IT department has undergone key changes in personnel over the last 12 months.
The majority of the expenditure (£2.1m transferred to M&D) primarily relates to running the existing School IT estate, including staffing and running costs. The remaining proportion (£0.6m) will cover the renewal of some devices, delegated school IT funding and targeted IT investments. Any IT investments on top of this would be either funded by:
- The Chief Operating Office- for any infrastructure enhancements and fixed asset replacements
- CYPES- for strategic School IT investments
A post-Covid IT strategy is required, and this is currently within the remit of the Education Reform Programme developments. This will determine the shape of the IT Strategy and will also impact on the IT curriculum for schools for the future.