Ministers 'spent £66m on consultants', say teachers Christine Blower, NUT general secretary, said: "It is quite extraordinary that in these times of cutbacks and austerity the Government has found £337.2m to support its academies and free schools programme. "It is hard to see how the Education Secretary can justify spending taxpayers" money in this way. Evidence does not show that academies or free schools will raise standards. This programme will create a chaotic and unaccountable education system. The NUT analysed Government accounts published since the General Election in 2010. It claimed that £59.2m had been spent by the Department for Education on 14 companies, including Cambridge Education, Capita Symonds, EC Harris and Tribal Education. Of that, more than half was for free schools and academies. It was claimed that Partnerships for Schools - a Government quango - paid a further £7.1 million to four more companies, including one that had carried out separate work for the DfE. Further money was spent on new school buildings, start-up grants, staffing and other overheads. The NUT also claimed that the DfE now employed 126 full-time junior staff - and seven senior officials - to drive its free school programme. To date, some 1,283 secondary schools have converted into academies and another 358 have applied to convert. It represents more than half of state secondaries nationally. In addition, some 464 primary academies have also opened and a similar number have applied to convert - representing one-in-20 primaries in England. A further 24 free schools have been established with around 70 organisations hoping to set one up in the next few years. A DfE spokesman said: "Well over a million pupils are now taught in academies and free schools - it is ridiculous to suggest that money spent on them is wasted. These schools are spearheading the Government's reforms to drive up standards. More than half of all secondary schools are now academies, or on their way to becoming academies. More and more primary schools are also choosing to take advantage of academy status and freedoms. Free Schools are proving hugely popular with parents.