Schools and colleges are to benefit from a package of ICT measures which the government hopes will drive forward the revolution in digital learning. The Education Secretary, Charles Clarke, said the idea was to enhance traditional teaching practices and underline the central role of ICT in raising standards.The measures, which will be paid for from the investment in educational ICT announced in the spending review allocations last month, will include an extra 280 million pounds for e- learning credits and an additional 92 million pounds to develop College Online. There will also be 8 million for online training for teachers next year.

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Local government leaders are warning that some authorities may have to cut services or raise council taxes unless the government rethinks its school spending plans.The schools minister, David Milliband, has written to all local authorities and to head teachers setting out his expectations on the amount of funding that should be passed directly to schools in next year’s budget. And he has made it clear that the government will use reserve powers in the new Education Act to set minimum budgets if councils fail to allocate the full funds to schools.

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By Richard Macfarlane and Mark Cook. Including community benefit requirements such as employment and training opportunities in re-generation contracts has many supporters including the House of Commons Education and Employment Committee. The authors have looked at what are seen as barriers to getting a better deal for the community. They chart a way that public service organizations can secure community benefits without infringing Government procurement policy or EU procurement rules.