DfE cancels £15m funding for child care IT

Michael Gove told senior local government employees in a letter that funding for local social care IT is being stopped as part of the Department for Education's plans to save £1bn from its capital budget in 2010-11. "Following the secretary of state's statement about end year flexibility on Monday 5 July, the additional £15m capital grant for improvement of local social care IT systems which was announced by the previous administration will not be available," the education secretary said, in his letter dated 14 July 2010. The letter also discloses that local authorities had not been notified about their share of this additional funding. Local authorities hoping to address social work IT problems will now have to use the local social work improvement fund, which will be distributed by the Children's Workforce Development Council. The Labour government had promised funding for social care IT in 2010-11 to improve local social care systems. Funding for a range of other capital programmes will also be significantly cut or axed, says the letter. This includes cuts to the £24m co-location project, which supports increased integration within children's services. Gove said the project cuts would save the department £169.5m. The education secretary told local authorities that they would have a chance to participate in discussions about spending for 2011-15. "You will have plenty of opportunity to be involved over the next few months. No decisions on the details of funding from 2011-12 are expected to be made until then," he added.