Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the estimated cost per pupil of auditing the accounts of a 1,000-pupil secondary school, in (1) the maintained sector, and (2) the academy sector.

Schools in the maintained sector do not require an external audit as this is undertaken at local authority level.

Each academy trust’s audit fees vary reflecting a number of different factors such as the auditing firm used and the complexity of the business. We are, therefore, unable to provide an estimation of audit fees on a cost per pupil basis for a 1,000-pupil secondary school.