Capital spending data on four out of five free schools projects still unpublished

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Picture: Southwark primary free school, one of 21 frees which have not had capital spending data published despite already having closed

 

 

Taxpayers remain in the dark as to how much of their money has been spent setting up individual free schools as the Department for Education has only released data in relation to one in five of the new institutions.

More than 400 free schools have not had any information published as to how much funding has been directed to buying sites and erecting buildings, even though many of them opened more than five years ago and in some cases have already closed.

It is now more than 20 months since the DfE last published any information with respect to the capital costs of any its 506 free schools projects so far.

The figures are confirmed in an Education Uncovered analysis today which looks at capital spending disclosures by the DfE by the year each school was set up. Our analysis, combined with findings of a National Audit Office report published in April, suggests that at least 24 free schools where site costs alone have been in excess of £10 million have not had their details released to the public.

We considered cases of “free schools” in their broadest Department for Education definition, which includes University Technical Colleges (UTCs) and Studio Schools as well as more conventionally-known free schools.

Of the 506 such institutions which have opened since the policy began in 2011, capital spending data is only available on 102.

Breaking down the figures by year, 38 per cent – or more than a third - of those opening in the first year of the policy, 2011-12, have still not had any information published as to how much they cost the taxpayer, six years after they opened.

Among those starting five years ago, in 2012-13, 60 per cent have not had capital spending details released. Combining the figures for those opening in the first two years of the project, this means that half of those free schools which opened at least five years ago have still not had capital spending data released.

The corresponding figure rises to 73 per cent for those opening in 2013-14 and 82 per cent for those which started in 2014-15, while the rate is 100 per cent for any free school opening after that. This means that no capital spending details are available on any free school which has opened in the past two years.

The official DfE spreadsheets where what information there is available on free schools capital spending is published was last updated more than a year and a half ago, in March 2016. It is true that many free schools did not have capital programmes finished until years after opening, since many are, controversially, housed initially in temporary sites.

Asked for a response, the DfE cited a combination of some individual free school building projects not having completed and “commercial confidentiality” as a reason for the datasets being so incomplete.

A spokesperson said: “The department publishes final capital costs for all free schools once projects are completed, in permanent buildings, and are no longer commercially sensitive. Given these can be large and complex projects, this can take some time between first opening and publication. We will publish the next set of data in due course.”

However, it is difficult to see how the “project not completed” line holds in free schools projects where the institution has actually already closed. Yet in 58 per cent of the 36 cases where a free school – as widely defined to include UTCs and Studios – has actually closed, no capital spending information has been disclosed.

Information has been published as to the overall cost of free schools building projects, but only within the context of a National Audit Office report which makes identifying individual projects impossible.

This limits the ability of local media to hold policymakers to account for the cost of individual projects, or of local citizens to be informed about a key detail of new school projects.