19 October 2007
Senior MPs this week criticised the government's flagship academy schools programme for failing to control costs, with almost two-thirds of the first buildings running over budget.
The influential Commons Public Accounts Committee said the cost of constructing an academy outstripped that of building any other new secondary school by as much as £7m.
PAC chair Edward Leigh said: 'Costs have not been kept under control, with 17 of the first 26 academy buildings each costing over £3m more than expected. There is also no certainty about what it costs to run the new buildings in the longer term. This information is essential if funding and budgets are to be set at a realistic level.'
The government originally wanted 200 academies to be open or in development by 2010 at a capital cost of around £5bn. In November 2006, then Prime Minister Tony Blair announced plans to double numbers to 400.
Liberal Democrat schools spokesman David Laws said the planned extension of the programme made it vital that financial problems were overcome. 'There are real concerns that future problems will either prove unaffordable or will squeeze out much-needed investment in the thousands of other schools in the country,' he said.
A spokesman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families said: 'Academies are given capital funding on the same basis as other schools, but some projects have had higher-than-budgeted costs because of local construction prices in inner-city areas and the need to build on restricted brownfield sites.
'Academies now have their new buildings delivered through the Building Schools for the Future model, which ensures efficiency savings and strong cost management.'
The PAC's October 18 report concluded that it was too early to give an overall verdict on the success of the programme. While GCSE performance in academies had improved faster than in other schools, literacy and numeracy levels fell well short of the average.
Leigh noted, however, that academies were intended to raise educational achievements in deprived areas. He said that if their performance were adjusted to take into account pupils' circumstances, 'then on average it is substantially better than that of secondary schools overall'.
National Union of Teachers general secretary Steve Sinnott said academies should be brought back under local authority control. 'They should share in the benefits of co-operation enjoyed by maintained schools and be as accountable.'
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