Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether schools and academy trusts with existing Management Information System contracts will be required to move to the proposed framework when those contracts expire; and whether exemptions will be available where an existing or alternative procurement arrangement represents better value for money.

The requirement to use the framework for MIS once it is launched is to be followed at the natural expiry of current contracts. The sector are not expected to terminate contracts early in order to award a contract under the framework. An exemption to using the framework will be available for schools who do not have sufficient network connectivity to host a cloud-based MIS solution. Due to the wider concerns raised to us by the sector the primary objective of the framework is to tackle reported poor supplier behaviour and provide benefits to the sector including more balanced terms and conditions, easier migration to new suppliers, better price transparency and overall better value for money.