§ Mr. BettsTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) by how much Government spending has changed in 1994–95 as a result of the private finance initiative; what is the estimated effect in 1995–96; how many jobs are to be created by schemes approved to date under the initiative and how many have been lost as a consequence in the public sector; and what is the forecast of transfer of employment from public to private sector over the last five years because of the initiative; [30853]
(2) how many schemes and to what value have been approved in 1994–95 under the private finance initiative; what are the estimates for the current financial year; how many schemes are currently being considered and at what value; for how long they have been considered and how many have been in the assessment process for over (a) six months and (b) 12 months; and what was the average length of time taken to assess schemes so far approved. [30852]
§ Mr. FreemanThe Ministry of Defence is fully committed to the private finance initiative and is actively pursuing potential opportunities. To this end, we have identified a range of prospects with potential for private finance including a number of PFI "Pathfinder" projects in areas such as information technology, works and logistics. It would be premature at this stage to attempt to predict spending or the impact on employment, which will be determined by the development of individual projects.