To allocate the Standards Fund ICT budget to the schools broadband services to permit contracts to be signed.

The Forum considered the allocation of the Standard Funds ICT budget to the schools broadband services.

The ICT Projects Manager explained that the figures attached at Appendix 1 to the report were to provide services to every school in the County bar one.  He added that an amendment was required in the final column of the Appendix marked ‘Contingency’ as the figure set aside for this was in fact £276,745 rather than £176,745 as stated in the published report.

He explained that the proposals put forward would provide broadband access to all schools for £420,000 compared to at least £700,000 for just the 14 High Schools in the County to have their own internet service providers.  This was a good example of how the Council could help save schools resources.  This included safety features such as anti-virus and spam protection.

The key to the whole issue was remote access of schools networks by teachers and pupils.  Remote access presented a significant security risk as a high degree of security would be required to prevent hackers gaining access to school records.  In order to allow schools to set their own levels of security it was necessary to decouple the schools network from the council’s corporate network.

The current schools network equipment was coming to end of its life span and needed replacement.  The proposed new network would also be relocated to the Thorn and Plough Lane Offices from the Townhall basement to provide additional resilience.

The providers for the required Virtual Learning Environments (VLE) were currently being referenced.  To assist this process two seconded teachers, one from primary and one from the secondary sector were being sought.

Finally, a contingency of £276,745 was proposed.  This was to cover a few outstanding invoices and to enable the project to continue should any unforeseen circumstances arise.  Any underspends would be reinvested.  The Head of Commissioning and Improvement confirmed that any such proposals would be made to Schools Forum.

The ICT Projects Manager finished by explaining that the proposal provided a first class broadband service to high schools and met the needs of primary schools.  It was also affordable.  The only regret was that this situation had not been reached earlier.

The following are the principal points from the ensuing discussion:

·         A member was wary of secondments as it often meant a school losing a good teacher in the short term.  It was clarified that teachers on the redundancy list would be eligible to apply for the secondments.

·         There was no need to separate the school network from the VLE as greater security was now available at the cost of £1000 per school.  This was a one off charge to all schools.

·         Primary Schools would be a part of the VLE during the autumn term.

·         Remote access could mean that schools networks were open to the entire world And so high levels of security were required to prevent inadvertent hosting of inappropriate material.

·         It was confirmed that £77,000 was being spent on providing one senior ICT engineer to handle the project.  This included all additional fees including on-costs and recruitment fees.

·         £45,000 ‘on hands support for schools’ was coming from the central budget for one year only.  Funding for future years was uncertain.

·         Special schools and pupil referral units were included with the primary and secondary schools.

·         In terms of sustainability engineering and licensing costs would be ongoing annual requirements.  The new hardware was expected to last 3-5 years and was a one off payment this year.  Future costs could not be guaranteed but schools were better off collectively than individually. 

·         It was noted that 41% of the standards fund was match funding provided by Herefordshire Council.

A breakdown of now the money set aside for contingency is spent to be provided at the end of the project.

RESOLVED:

That the Forum approves the use of the Standards Fund grant to purchase:

(a) the Schools Broadband Service at  £864,500;

(b) the Managed Learning Platform at £467,000;

(c) the SIMS Migration Pilot at £100,000;

(d) a contingency fund of £276,745;

and;

(e) at the end of the project a breakdown of now the contingency fund was spent be provided.