School academies have come under the spotlight after the leader of Kent County Council said he was concerned about their admissions, high level of exclusions and standards.

Cllr Paul Carter flagged up his misgivings as the authority, which is already a co-sponsor of several academies including the Isle of Sheppey Academy, agreed to move ahead with the development of a further batch of five.

They include academies for secondary schools in Dover, Ashford, Maidstone and Sevenoaks.

Speaking at a cabinet meeting on Monday Cllr Carter (Con) said he was concerned the Government’s academy programme could be as divisive as the former Conservative policy of allowing schools to opt out of council control.

While he said academies remained an important part of Kent’s "mixed economy" of schools, he questioned whether the huge investment was delivering the results.

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He also said Kent was unlikely to approve more academy plans because the authority lost money needed to maintain crucial support services for all its schools.

"I have a concern about the rate of exclusions, the failure to admit vulnerable people and the attainment level of academies," he said.

It was "extraordinary" that "academies can refuse to admit some of the most vulnerable young people under the current admissions."

"I do have some concerns with some of the rules and regulations that surround academies. We have to be very careful that we do not [end up] with the very worst of the grant maintained system, which was extraordinarily divisive between community and grant maintained schools," added Cllr Carter.

That was a reference to the former Conservative policy in the 1980s of allowing schools to opt out of council control and be directly funded by Government, much like the academy programme.

Mr Carter added it was "very regrettable" that KCC lost money it would otherwise have to pay for support services because academies were funded directly by the Government and it was top-sliced from the council’s budget.

"We are going to have to suggest that 14 academies [is enough] otherwise we would be really hard pressed to provide the essentially needed support services."

On standards, he said: "I do not want to be bitchy but the vast majority of our National Challenge schools have improved but under 50 per cent of academies have not delivered."

Kent has 33 schools identified by the Government as under-performing although many have already reached or are close to the target for 30 per cent of pupils to achieve five or more good GCSEs.

A study published by experts at the London School of Economics last year said the results of academies were statistically indistinguishable from comprehensives.