A privatisation too far?AS more details emerge about the privatisation of Highland schools’ computer services, the more concerned we become about the long term cost of the contract.
At first glance the deal looks attractive, saving Highland Council an estimated £6.76 million over five years. But at what cost to schools?
We have already expressed concern that the contract appears to shift costs away from the council and onto individual schools, highlighting the example of a projector which cost several times more when bought from Fujitsu, now the sole supplier, than it would have done online.
Now details have emerged of the “managed print service” being provided by Fujitsu. Schools calculate that their printing and copying bills will rise by at least 50 per cent and in some cases more than double, despite having fewer printers available to use. Once again, it is school budgets that will be hit, leaving less cash for extras such as books, school trips, sports equipment etc.
Today, for the first time, the Highland Secondary Heads Association speaks out publicly about the issue. The organisation normally keeps its own counsel, preferring instead to discuss matters privately with local authority officials, and if it is worried about “significant budget implications” then the matter is clearly serious.
The Educational Institute of Scotland is also unusually forthright, with its Highland secretary Andrew Stewart predicting that the contract, as it currently stands, will be “disastrous for education”.
What worries us is that these crucial contract details are emerging piecemeal only after the contract has been signed, when they should have been a key part of the debate over whether to privatise the service or not.
It appears that councillors were either not privy to this crucial small print or that it was presented to them in such a way that they simply did not understand the implications for schools. Certainly, Drew Hendry, leader of the SNP opposition, seems not to have been aware of what the council was entering into as today he calls for an assurance that extra costs will not be passed onto headteachers.
He is unlikely to receive one because that is precisely what is happening, and elected members should have known that from the outset.
Councillor Hendry goes on to suggest that councillors may at last be about to stir themselves from their slumber with regard to the largest privatisation deal the authority has ever signed, saying it would be farcical if savings made by the council simply meant bigger bills for school and that a radical rethink would be required if that was the case.
We look forward to seeing how councillors respond.
http://www.inverness-courier.c...too-far-01072011.htm
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