Recommended by Ed Balls - Consultancy for Schools

Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Education recommended the VfM Consultancy for Schools programme during his address to the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust annual conference yesterday. He also launched a discussion paper on achieving better VfM in schools.

Read "Securing our future: using our resources well," http://publications.dcsf.gov.uk/...

And read the DCSF press release here: www.dcsf.gov.uk/news/...

New - Audit Commission Tools on VfM available online

The Audit Commission has recently launched two new tools to support schools to improve value for money. These tools follow up the Audit Commission’s national report Valuable Lessons, which was published in June.

Managing School Resources (http://www.schoolresources.audit-commission.gov.uk) is a voluntary online self-assessment tool. The action plan from the tool provides schools with a structure for value for money discussions, and sign-posts useful value for money resources.

The Audit Commission has also developed a workforce tool for secondary schools. This tool supports schools in breaking down expenditure by subject and comparing expenditure with outcomes, to support assessments of the efficiency of workforce deployment.

‘Harnessing Technology Grants’ available for schools

The British Computer Society is urging schools to make use of the Government’s “Harnessing Technology Grants”. These can be used for capital funding such as purchases or upgrades of ICT infrastructure (e.g. broadband connectivity) and equipment (e.g. whiteboards) as well as software and digital curriculum resources where these count as capital expenditure.

For more information, see this article:
http://www.edexec.co.uk/news/1000/harnessing-technology-grants/

Or review the full guidance on how to access the grant on the Becta website: http://localauthorities.becta.org.uk/index.php?section=fd&catcode=la_fu_02&rid=16361