PFI in housing and hospitals

PFI in housing and hospitals PDF Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780215555922
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 40

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Book Description
The Department of Health and the Department for Communities and Local Government (the Departments) are responsible for sizeable portfolios of PFI projects covering hospitals and social housing. By April 2009 there were 76 operational PFI hospitals in England and over 13,000 homes had been built or refurbished through PFI. The letting of contracts and the responsibility for managing them is devolved to NHS Trusts and local authorities. The Departments are responsible for overseeing their PFI programmes and reporting to the public and Parliament on value for money. The Committee can find no clear and explicit justification and evaluation for the use of PFI in terms of its value for money. In many cases local authorities and Trusts chose the PFI route because the Departments offered no realistic funding alternative. Other concerns are central government's failure to use the market leverage that comes from overseeing multiple contracts, and the lack of robust central data to support effective programme management. It is clear that the implementation of PFI projects could be improved. Many PFI housing procurements have taken very much longer, and cost a great deal more, than originally planned. On hospitals, most are receiving the services expected at the point contracts were signed and are generally being well managed. There are, however, wide and unexplained variations in the cost of hospital support services, such as cleaning, catering and portering. Departments are not using their own buying power to leverage gains for the taxpayer.

PFI in housing and hospitals

PFI in housing and hospitals PDF Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780215555922
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 40

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Book Description
The Department of Health and the Department for Communities and Local Government (the Departments) are responsible for sizeable portfolios of PFI projects covering hospitals and social housing. By April 2009 there were 76 operational PFI hospitals in England and over 13,000 homes had been built or refurbished through PFI. The letting of contracts and the responsibility for managing them is devolved to NHS Trusts and local authorities. The Departments are responsible for overseeing their PFI programmes and reporting to the public and Parliament on value for money. The Committee can find no clear and explicit justification and evaluation for the use of PFI in terms of its value for money. In many cases local authorities and Trusts chose the PFI route because the Departments offered no realistic funding alternative. Other concerns are central government's failure to use the market leverage that comes from overseeing multiple contracts, and the lack of robust central data to support effective programme management. It is clear that the implementation of PFI projects could be improved. Many PFI housing procurements have taken very much longer, and cost a great deal more, than originally planned. On hospitals, most are receiving the services expected at the point contracts were signed and are generally being well managed. There are, however, wide and unexplained variations in the cost of hospital support services, such as cleaning, catering and portering. Departments are not using their own buying power to leverage gains for the taxpayer.

Lessons from PFI and other projects

Lessons from PFI and other projects PDF Author: Great Britain: National Audit Office
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780102969672
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 36

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Book Description
Lessons from the experience of using PFI can be applied to improve other forms of procurement and help Government achieve its aim of securing annual infrastructure delivery cost savings of £2 billion to £3 billion. To secure the best value for money from all types of procurement, the public sector needs to develop skills the NAO has identified. These are collecting better data to inform decision-making; ensuring projects have the right skills; establishing effective arrangements to test, challenge and, if necessary, stop projects; and using commercial awareness to obtain better deals. The case for using private finance in public procurement needs to be challenged more. Also, privately financed projects will often still be off balance-sheet which may continue to act as an incentive to use PFI. There has not been a systematic value for money evaluation of operational PFI projects by departments. So there is insufficient data to demonstrate whether the use of private finance has led to better or worse value for money than other forms of procurement. The Treasury and departments should identify alternative methods for delivering infrastructure and related facilities services to maximise value for money for government. The NAO welcomes the current plans of the Treasury and Cabinet Office to strengthen project assurance. The report highlights the need for independent challenge capable of stopping projects which do not give the prospect of value for money. This is particularly important as there is still a shortage of the skills needed to manage and oversee complex major projects.

Treasury minutes on the fourteenth to eighteenth reports from the Committee of Public Accounts session 2010-11

Treasury minutes on the fourteenth to eighteenth reports from the Committee of Public Accounts session 2010-11 PDF Author: Great Britain. Treasury
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780102971293
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 108

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Book Description
The reports published as HC 631 (ISBN 9780215555922); HC 632 (9780215555939); HC 574 (9780215556042); HC 552 (9780215556066); HC 502 (9780215556165)

Private Finance Initiative

Private Finance Initiative PDF Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Treasury Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780215561206
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 120

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Book Description
The Treasury Committee concludes that Private Finance Initiative (PFI) funding for new infrastructure, such as schools and hospitals, does not provide taxpayers with good value for money and stricter criteria should be introduced to govern its use. Higher borrowing costs since the credit crisis mean that PFI is now an extremely inefficient method of financing projects. Poor investment decisions may continue to be encouraged across the public sector, however, because PFI allows Government departments and public bodies to make big capital investments without committing large sums up front. There is no convincing evidence that savings and efficiencies during the lifetime of PFI projects offset the higher cost of finance. The current Value for Money appraisal system may be biased to favour PFIs and there are problems with the way costs and benefits for such projects are currently calculated. Investment could be increased in the long run if government capital investment were used instead of PFI. Paying off a PFI debt of £1bn may cost taxpayers the same as paying off a direct government debt of £1.7bn. Recommendations include: the Treasury should consider scoring most PFIs in departmental budgets in the same way as direct capital expenditure; the Treasury should discuss with the OBR the treatment of PFI to ensure that PFI cannot be used to 'game' the fiscal rules; the Value for Money assessment process should be subjected to scrutiny by the NAO; the Treasury should review the way in which risk transfer is identified.

Understanding the Private–Public Divide

Understanding the Private–Public Divide PDF Author: Avner Offer
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108496202
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 243

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Book Description
A distinctive new account of why markets focus on short-term goals, while government needs to concentrate on society's long-term interests.

Public Private Partnerships and Constitutional Law

Public Private Partnerships and Constitutional Law PDF Author: Nikiforos Meletiadis
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429821808
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 213

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Book Description
Annually, the government commits significant expenditure to a type of public contracts which are known as Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) or the Private Finance Initiative (PFI). These contracts bind the public purse for decades in sectors such as Health, Defence and Detention, and involve the assignment of a significant role to the private sector in the provision of public services. This book explores the controversial subject of the public accountability of these contracts, and the corresponding large sums of public money involved. It explains how public accountability works for PPPs and the PFI, and it argues that it should be provided as part of the Economic Constitution. Drawing comparative understandings from the UK and the USA constitutional legal traditions, the book investigates public accountability from the perspective of the Economic Constitution, focusing on three accountability criteria - legal, accounting and administrative. In doing so, it provides an analysis which informs both from the perspective of academic research and from that of legal and consulting practice.

Evaluating the Operation of PFI in Roads and Hospitals

Evaluating the Operation of PFI in Roads and Hospitals PDF Author: Pam Edwards
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781859084052
Category : Hospitals
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Book Description


The Politics of Public Sector Reform

The Politics of Public Sector Reform PDF Author: M. Burton
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137316241
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
The first comprehensive 'bird's eye' account of public sector reform supported by references from over 400 official sources, this book is an invaluable guide to all those in the public, private and voluntary sectors grappling with the twin challenges of managing public spending austerity and the pressure in response to transform public services.

PFI in housing

PFI in housing PDF Author: Great Britain: National Audit Office
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780102965285
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 44

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Book Description
This report, from the National Audit Office (HCP 71, session 2010-11, ISBN 9780102965285), looks at PFI in Housing. The use of PFI by local authorities to improve housing, usually in areas with a high need for housing and where the stock condition is particularly poor, has had a measure of success, but risks to value for money of the programme have not been managed. In the context of this programme, PFI has been a flexible and useful funding route for local authorities to improve existing housing and build new stock. However, the majority of projects required significant increases in central funding prior to contract signature and all have suffered delays. Twenty one of the 25 projects which have been signed to date have experienced cost increases, with 12 of these over 100 per cent. All signed projects, for which the NAO was able to obtain data, were delayed, on average by 2 years and 6 months. For early projects this was partly because PFI was new to the housing sector and the Department for Communities and Local Government had to develop its understanding of stock condition issues. Also, the Department's management for early projects was also weak and under-resourced. While the capital cost of PFI housing projects is similar to other developments, the Department's evaluation to date has not taken account of the full costs. Procurement also tends to take more time, which can increase procurement and tender costs for local authorities and bidders.

Public–Private Partnerships and the Law

Public–Private Partnerships and the Law PDF Author: Yseult Marique
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 1781004552
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 329

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Book Description
This timely book examines the legal regulation of Public_Private Partnerships (PPPs) and provides a systematic overview of PPPs and their functions. It covers both the contractual relationships between public and private actors and the relationships be