§ Mr. AllanTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what cost savings have been made in his Department since the introduction of the Information Technology Procurement Centre of Excellence; and how these were calculated. [151051]
§ Mr. Charles ClarkeA Centre of Excellence in Programme and Project Management was established 579W within the Department for Education and Skills in August 2002, to improve the planning and management of improvements in the education system. In June 2003, its remit was extended to integrate the essential functions which underpin the successful delivery of all types of acquisition based programmes and projects (including those concerned with procuring IT). As cost benefits for IT procurements will not accrue until improvements start to take effect, it is too early to measure cost savings. All Centres of Excellence are currently developing future plans and as part of this process methods for measuring savings are being worked out.