The closure of Becta will save £10m over the next year, the government said yesterday.

Former education minister and Labour MP Ed Balls tabled a parliamentary question in which he asked the Secretary of State for Education to estimate the cost and savings to the Exchequer expected from kyboshing the schools IT quango.

"We expect that the closure of Becta will save £10 million in 2010-11 after all costs have been met," said schools minister Nick Gibb.

He added that the government had projected savings in subsequent years to be around £65m per year.

The education IT procurement outfit was scrapped late last month as part of the coalition government's £6.2bn cuts for 2010.

Becta didn't buy computers and software for schools, but instead drew up framework agreements that bound local authorities to particular vendors and packages.

The org will shut down by November this year. Schools are expected to get more control over their technology purchases as a result. ®