RSS feedsPublic sector watchdog, the National Audit Office has found that two thirds (17 out of 26) of the first academy buildings used for the prime minister's flagship academies programme have suffered cost overruns averaging £3m.
The other nine were found to be operating within their original budgets.
The academies have cost an average of £24m each, which makes them more expensive than other secondary schools, noted the NAO.
Sir John Bourn, head of the NAO, praised the academies for raising the achievements of pupils from deprived backgrounds but said the challenge was to manage capital costs better for the hundreds of new academies still planned to be built.
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