Today’s NAO report on free schools has recognised the ‘clear progress’ we have made opening 174 schools in three years with significantly lower costs than Labour’s school programmes. But, as Isabel Hardman, Toby Young and Policy Exchange’s Jonathan Simons have pointed out, instead of reading the report the BBC and PAC Chairwoman Margaret Hodge have chosen to ignore the facts.
The BBC’s headline claims ‘free school costs budget trebled to £1.5bn, says report.’ But the NAO report states that ‘many new schools have been established quickly and at relatively low cost’. At £6.6 million per school, free schools are being delivered at a fraction of the costs of Labour’s Building Schools for the Future scheme which cost £25 million per school. As the NAO’s report recognises, we have also cut the cost of building a new school by around 45% compared to previous school building programmes.
The BBC also claims that ‘schools were not always where places were most needed’ and Margaret Hodge has said ‘The Department has got to be much more rigorous about how it assesses applications for free schools and prioritises need and value for money.’
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