A state advertising campaign for new diploma qualifications has been attacked for costing taxpayers a cool £11million, in spite of being hugely undersubscribed.
Exams for the qualifications were sat by just 12,000 students, about a quarter of the number projected, equating to a cost for the taxpayer of £900 per head.
Figures obtained under the Freedom Information Act add that adverts to promote the alternative to A-levels cost £2.6m on the radio, and £1.25m on the internet.
The two channels are part of an overall marketing and advertising strategy that has cost £10,974,033 since September 2007, show the figures, seen by the Daily Telegraph.
Forced by Charlotte Leslie, the Tory candidate for Bristol North West, the release of the figures is the latest embarrassment for the diplomas, which England’s exam board has called to delay in some subjects.
“The government has spent an extraordinary amount of money on a massive publicity campaign that seems to have no clear target audience,” Ms Leslie told the paper.
“This is at a time when we are facing record levels of national debt, deep recession, and short-falls in further education funding threaten to deprive hundreds of young people of real education courses they badly need.”
May 5, 2009
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