Academies 'suffer from high costs'

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The Commons Public Accounts Committee said it was still too early to tell whether the privately sponsored academies were a success - five years after the programme started.

The MPs warned that academies were expensive, costing £27 million each, up to £7 million more than the average new secondary school.

And they said teenagers' results in the three Rs were too low in academies.

Edward Leigh MP, chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, said: "Costs have not been kept under control, with 17 of the first 26 academy buildings each costing over £3 million 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.

"It is too early to give an overall verdict on the success of the academies programme. The picture so far is mixed."

He said GCSE results were improving faster in academies than other schools. But this may in part be down to the "initial enthusiasm" found in a new school and "the high level of spending on buildings", he suggested.

The committee called for close monitoring of the impact of the academies programme and suggested the money earmarked for the scheme may ultimately be better spent elsewhere.

The Government was projected to spend £5 billion on the first 200 academies that will be open or in the pipeline by 2010.