[Wylug-discuss] Fwd: Early Day Motion in the House of Commons

[Phil Driscoll]

Leslie Fletcher, who spoke to us at last month's meeting has asked me to 
forward this message to WYLUG members:

Dear UKUUG/LUG member

John Pugh MP has tabled an Early Day Motion in the House of Commons
entitled "Software in Schools", number 179. Please write to, or email,
your MP within the next week with a request that (s)he add his/her name
to this motion.

I would be grateful if you could keep me informed about the letters you
send and replies you receive.

Yours sincerely

Leslie Fletcher

Leslie.Fletcher at ukuug.org


BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The text of the motion can be found at

http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=31752&SESSION=885

CONTACTING YOUR MP

An easy way to contact your MP is by email using the step-by-step guide
at:

http://www.writetothem.com/

The Open Rights Group (ORG) have sensible and practical information on
how to write to, or email, MPs:

http://www.openrightsgroup.org/orgwiki/index.php/Letter_writing

If you decide to follow up your letter with a visit to your MP's
constituency surgery, please look at ORG's advice:

http://www.openrightsgroup.org/orgwiki/index.php/MP%27s_surgery


POINTS TO COVER IN A LETTER

You may wish to cover some of the following points

      * Schools receive questionable advice on IT procurement from
        BECTA, the government agency responsible for the use of IT in
        education.
      * BECTA's framework agreements look only at the long-term
        financial performance of suppliers, seriously hampering the
        involvement of SMEs and ignoring the risk that schools could
        become locked into expensive and restrictive contractual
        arrangements.
      * Lists of approved suppliers are very limited both in number and
        variety - only only fifteen suppliers for non-curriculum
        software for example, none of which has any commitment to open
        source software.
      * BECTA's own case studies found considerable savings in cost for
        schools using open source software.
      * Government policy claims to promote a level playing field for
        open source software.  This is not happening in schools because
        BECTA's advice is partial and inconsistent.

If you have some connection with an SME (proprietor, partner,
employee, ... ) please make this clear in your letter as the impact on
SMEs in their constituency is something MPs can relate to.

If you are involved with a school, on the staff, a governor,
parent, ... , mention that also.  Again the well being of schools in
their constituency is something MPs are keen to be seen promoting.

John Pugh MP has tabled Early Day Motion number 179, entitled
"Software in Schools" expressing concern about this and I urge you to
add your name to it.
(MAKE SURE YOU FINISH OFF WITH A SENTENCE LIKE THIS BECAUSE THIS IS
WHAT YOU WANT YOUR MP TO DO!)


SOFTWARE, PARTICULARLY MOODLE, BEING USED BY THE OU AND OTHERS

You can read about the OU's innovative use of FLOSS and about
the lukewarm support from the DfES here:

http://www.ukuug.org/mediawatch/?p=789

There is a Wikipedia entry for Moodle:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moodle


BECTA AND ITS FRAMEWORKS

There is a Wikipedia entry on this topic;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Becta

This ZDNet article, referred to in the Wikipedia entry sets out the
issues for FLOSS very clearly:

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/0,1000000121,39256053,00.htm


EARLY DAY MOTION

An Early Day Motion is a parliamentary device to introduce an issue to
MPs and to gauge support; you can find out more from the Wikipedia entry
about EDMs:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_day_motion


HOW WE GOT HERE

This EDM is the first parliamentary result of UKUUG's initiative to
raise the political profile of free and open source software.  Several
other groups are involved, particularly the Open Source Consortium; you
can find more information on the website of the Open Schools Alliance, a
newly-formed pressure group:

www.openschoolsalliance.org.uk
--
Leslie Fletcher <Leslie.Fletcher at ukuug.org>

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-- 
Phil Driscoll