Technical schools set up with lavish public funds by Michael Gove are half full and often score lower results than other secondaries, Whitehall’s spending watchdog has found.

University technical colleges (UTCs), a type of free school focusing on teaching students who are usually aged between 14 and 19, were also less likely to be rated as good or outstanding by Ofsted, a report by the National Audit Office said.

The UTC programme has cost £792m since it was launched in 2010 with the aim of employers and universities working together to provide technical education, according to the NAO report.

Designed by Lord Baker, a minister under Margaret Thatcher, they were intended to give 14-year-olds the option of a technical, artistic and creative education, or an academic education.

A total of 58 UTCs have opened in the past nine years, but 10 no longer operate as technical colleges, the NAO’s investigation found. The rest are operating at less than half capacity on average.

As of August this year, the report said, 52% of UTCs were rated as good or outstanding, compared with 76% of all secondary schools. There were 4,863 students attending UTCs that were considered to be inadequate or requiring improvement by inspectors.

Fewer UTC students were entered for the English baccalaureate – a measure that recognises students who are entered for a suite of core academic GCSEs: English, maths, science, history or geography and a language – with 6% of pupils taking these courses in 201-/18 compared with 39% of students in all state-funded schools.

In 2010, Gove hailed the technical colleges as a crucial part of the free school project. Seven years later, he conceded in an article for the Times that they had failed. “There comes a point when the evidence has accumulated and the verdict is clear and even the most optimistic of us has to acknowledge that Godot won’t arrive, the base metal won’t turn into gold and the emperor really is in the altogether,” Gove wrote.

Meg Hillier, who chairs the public accounts committee, said: “This report provides further evidence as to why the Department for Education is my top department of concern.”

Baker, who founded the Baker Dearing Educational Trust to promote UTCs, said: “This report records the price of everything and the value of nothing. UTCs should be judged by the success of their students becoming apprentices, studying STEM subjects at a university and getting a job as a technician or an engineer.”

A spokeswoman for the Department for Education said: “We have been clear that the department is committed to ensuring people have access to high-quality technical education across the country. UTCs are helping to deliver on that, with 21% of pupils progressing into apprenticeships after completing their post-16 education, more than double the national average.

“As this report recognises, we have taken significant action to support and raise the profile of UTCs to make sure they continue to play a role in our diverse education system and provide the skills that employers need.”