6 replies to this topic

[holly35]

I'm sure it must have been mentioned before but in my rage addled and sleep deprived state I am struggling to find much mention of this on a forum search. Have any of you accessed the ICT capital grant from your LA?

If so I would be very interested to hear how it has been administered in your area if you don't mind sharing.
We have just had information about ours and I am starting to glow with rage at the very thought of it. It seems we are to be audited to see what we have (fair enough) and then we will be given a package of equipment. My argument is that the items listed on the audit are very specific and I don't have most of them, nor do I want them. I consider myself to be quite tech savvy and I like to look into reviews, etc before jumping to buy something (blame it on the fact we never have enough money for things!). So I really don't want them to decide I need a battery powered tool set, when my children have been more than happy with the non battery powered one all term, or a Kid Tough camera when our simple digital camera takes better pictures.. What I would like is some of those lovely Story Phones to improve listening skills and give them all some way of listening to stories and music without having to lose a member of staff to a separate room all session, and I'd really like a simple laptop my staff could use to complete their records on so I don't have to ask them to use their own all the time and print stuff at home for them. I have written a 5 page letter giving my arguments but before I seal and stamp it, I thought I'd look for some measured view points and other examples of practice. Thanks

[Scarlettangel]

For us we had to fill out a form..... very long winded and talk about what difference basically the capital grant funding would make.
We had to put in 2/ 3 quotes for everything we asked for.

It wasn't just for ICT at that time though.

[mundia]

Hi there Holly. Im sorry to hear that you are unhappy with the decision your LA have made about the Capital Funding. All LAs have made their own decisions about how this money would be spent and it does not always include ICT; many may have focused on outdoors, or accessibility as their key issues.

Sometimes it is tricky to give everyone a choice about what they spend money on, large orders often have to go out to tender and numbers of items need to be agreed in advance. Sometimes a 'universal' gifting is the most sensible option. This will inevitably mean that some people will be unhappy with the choices made on your behalf, but Im sure that if you asked someone to explain, as I think you have, they will probably be able to tell you the reasoning behind their decision. At the end of the day you dont have to accept the items and Im sure the LA would be more than happy to redistribute them to a setting that is perhaps large and would benefit from two of some things.

At the end of the day, the Capital Grant does not have to be used to make universal offers to anyone, an LA could decide to make it all through a bid system and through this way many settings don't get anything. A lot of money could go to a very small umber of settings. Your LA obviously decided to make it fairer for all.

[narnia]

ours asked us to apply for a grant and to decide how much we wanted....and what for.We supplied a list and they ok'd it, then sent us the money to buy the items ourselves.

[SueJ]

Same as Narnia really

We were invited to apply for the CAG across different strands - the ICT strand was up to 2.5K. We were v. fortunate last year to get the max and my keypeople now have laptops all running the same software and a group printer plus digital camera each to do photo obs. You could say we were v. v. pleased

We were given the money to spend as per our application - no restrictions on suppliers etc.

[holly35]

Thanks for your replies - I've been doing housework for a few days so not had time to come back until now.

Mundia, I take on board your comments but what worries/annoys me is the fact that other LAs can allow settings to have more choice over items than others. If it were a (government) requirement that all the equipment were ordered from a central supplier or by tender I could understand it but again it seems to have come down to local decisions, and these don't always seem to be the fairest. I do appreciate that by buying in bulk LAs might be able to stretch the money a little further but if the items supplied end up not being useful or long lasting, it seems to be a case of trying to save money at the expense of the quality.

Thanks for the replies though. It is good to get other views.

[Marion]

We were told where we could order from and then submitted a "wishlist" an some of the items were delivered much much later.