From John Clare's column in the Daily Telegraph yesterday:
My son, who has just turned 16, is being urged by his school to sign up for a "Connexions Card". What's it all about?Another Government black hole. More than a million cards have been issued over the past five years supposedly to encourage youngsters aged 16 to 19 to "keep learning". Holders collect "reward points" for turning up at school or college and then "spend" them on CDs, DVDs, mobile phone accessories or whatever the scheme's commercial sponsors are peddling.
As harmless - and pointless - as a supermarket "loyalty card", you might think. But so far, issuing the cards - which contain a chip storing the holder's personal details - has cost taxpayers £72 million, of which £66 million has gone to Capita, the Government's favourite private-sector dog'sbody.
What proof is there of any educational benefit? "There is no evidence that the originally intended impact on increasing post-16 participation in further education and training is yet being achieved" - Beverley Hughes, a junior minister in the Department for Education (with commendable honesty). Capita, however, has been told to carry on churning out the cards, for which it will be paid another £40 million between now and December 2008. Isn't it fun wasting other people's money?
Posted by James Bartholomew • Indexed in Education • Waste in public services
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If you look on the Connexions Cad web site (www.connexionscard.com) you will see that they have announced that the Connexions Card is "closing".
No explanation of why (except perhaps they've realised what a huge waste of money it is)
Posted by: HJHJ at June 12, 2006 09:57 AM
On HJHJ's comment, it's not that they realised the waste of money. They realised other people had caught on, so they'll find some other way to fleece taxpayers.
Posted by: Stop Wasting Money blog - candidate for Congress at July 23, 2006 02:54 PM
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I was watching TV last night and an ad came on which said that children could receive £30 / week for staying on.
It appears that NuLabor is chucking money at this to keep unemployment down and get the 'qualification levels' up (hahaha).
Posted by: Paul at June 8, 2006 10:56 AM