Becta money goes to free schools project

The Coalition's free schools project will take £50m of funding that had previously been allocated to helping schools procure the right IT for pupils.

The government wants to see schools set up by parents, charities and teachers, a concept called 'free schools'. To support that aim, education secretary Michael Gove announced on Friday, £50m will be taken from Becta's Harnessing Technology Grant to "provide capital funding for Free Schools up to 31 March 2011".

The grant in question was a mechanism of Becta, the government agency that was in charge of IT in education until it was scrapped in May. At the time, the Coalition said it would save £80m by getting rid of Becta and cutting back on other Department for Education quangos.

The functions of Becta have now been transferred to the DfE.