Software costs for school kids screened

The UK government is to scrutinise 'unnecessary' software licensing agreements in a bid to cut the cost of computing for schools and parents.

Becta (the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency), part of the Department for Education and Skills (DfES), is to see whether money could be saved in licensing so more children could use computers to access schoolwork at home.

This is in addition to a recently announced effort by Becta to review the 'value for money' of Microsoft's educational licensing programmes in the UK.

Owen Lynch, CEO at Becta, said in a statement: "Becta will work to ensure that there are no unnecessary licensing or document interoperability issues that might impede developments in the area of home-school links or lead to additional unacceptable costs for parents or schools.

"This is particularly important both in addressing the digital divide and in the increasing number of circumstances where pupils and parents access information and resources online from schools."

Becta, which is consulting the Office of Fair Trading and the Office of Government Commerce, said it will look at cheaper ways for pupils to work on the same document at home or on a school computer.

This move is in conjunction with the DfES' 'Harnessing Technology' strategy, which pledges to make it easier for parents to support their children's e-learning.