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The Government's rapid expansion of the academy programme is risking the overall value for money of the scheme, according to the public spending watchdog. An in-depth inquiry by the National Audit Office (NAO) found the rate at which new academies have been opening has increased rapidly in recent years. It said this created challenges regarding timely staff restructuring and the appointment of senior teams, which could have a significant impact on teaching and learning if not addressed. However, the NAO report stated a number of academies created under the Labour government are performing ‘impressively'. The report's findings chimed with the view of the Independent Academies Association (IIA), which has warned the quality of the academies programme is being put at risk by its rapid expansion. The IIA's manifesto states: ‘It is vital that the pace of expansion does not dilute the reasons why so many academies have been successful.' The NAO said: ‘The expansion of the programme increases the scale of risks to value for money – particularly in the areas of financial sustainability, governance and management capacity. ‘With greater numbers of academies opening in recent years, the [Department for Education's] capacity to administer and monitor the programme has been stretched.' The NAO conceded responsibility for administering and monitoring academies had been transferred to the Young People's Learning Agency but it said the plans for faster expansion would therefore just transfer the pressure onto the agency's resources instead. Amyas Morse, head of the NAO, warned: ‘Many of the academies established so far are performing impressively in delivering the intended improvements. It cannot be assumed, however, that academies' performance to date is an accurate predictor of how the model will perform when generalised more widely.'

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Academies' growth 'risking their VFM'

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