Fabulous but expensive new buildings are an academy trait

A report on the 46 open so far out of the 200 planned by 2010 found results rising faster than in other schools.

But English and maths GCSE results were low and there was little collaboration with neighbouring schools, it said.

Teachers' unions remain critical. The Liberal Democrats highlighted cost overruns on the academy buildings.

Academies are independent state-funded schools with outside sponsors such as businesses or churches.

Lessons

The audit office (NAO) said the programme was on track to deliver good value for money.

Academies have benefited from a lot of effort and investment - they must do more to share these advantages Edward Leigh Commons public accounts committee

"Most academies have made good progress in improving GCSE results."

But 17 of the first 26 had cost more than planned, the average overrun being �3m.

Overall, the schools cost more than other secondary schools, at around �24m on average - and as high as �40m - compared with about �21m.

"However, the capital costs of these schools are not directly comparable with academies because of a number of factors, including differences in location, site constraints, number and age range of pupils and local construction prices," the report said.

But Liberal Democrat education spokeswoman Sarah Teather said the additional costs were "a big concern in such a hugely expensive scheme, especially as this report highlights that lessons are not being learnt from past mistakes".

Lack of collaboration

The chairman of the Commons public accounts committee, Edward Leigh, described the overruns as "major stumbling" in a project that was likely to cost �5bn by 2010.

He said: "One of the aims of the academies programme is to drive up standards locally, not just in the academy.

"There is not much evidence of this happening at the moment.

"Academies have benefited from a lot of effort and investment. They must do more to share these advantages with neighbouring schools and local communities."

The NAO report said: "Academies, with their improved performance and impressive new buildings, can provide much more competition for other schools in attracting new pupils and staff."

'Mistake'

Schools Minister Lord Adonis said: "This report justifies our boldness in embarking on a programme of 400 academies.

"Academies are creating good schools where previously there was failure, and the NAO endorses our strategy."

Shadow schools minister Nick Gibb said: "The Conservative Party fully backs the government's academy programme which is why we want it to go further with more autonomy for head teachers and governors."

But the general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, Mary Bousted, said academies were "an expensive mistake".

"Despite the use of dubious statistics it is clear the performance of academies is worse than that of other state schools.

"This is despite the vast amounts of money being spent on them - especially in building costs, which are well in excess of those for local authority schools."

The head of the NASUWT teachers' union, Chris Keates, said: ?Nothing in the audit office report justifies the huge investment of public money in academies or the threat they pose to the public service ethos of state education."

The NAO also recommends formal post-project reviews of the setting up of each academy, to inform future developments.

It warns that doubling the programme to 400 academies might result in shortages of suitable senior staff.