§ Chris GraylingTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) for what reason she rejected Surrey county council's PPP application; [52513]
800W(2) if she will list the local education authorities which received backing from her Department for PPP schemes in the past 12 months; and for what purpose those applications were made; [52534]
(3) if she will list the LEAs which have applied for PPP funding in the past 12 months, and the purposes for which those applications were made. [52535]
§ John HealeyThe application from Surrey local education authority (LEA) for PFI credits in 2003–04 was not supported as it did not meet the criteria, as set out in the guidance issued to LEAs on 31 July 2001, to the same extent as those applications from other authorities which were supported. Officials from the Department are arranging to meet with officers from Surrey LEA to provide detailed feedback and to explore how the application might be strengthened for future years.
Details of those authorities that were prioritised for provisional PFI credit support were announced in a Press Notice on 26 March, a copy of which is available in the Library of the House.
53 bids were received in the recent PFI capital round, with a total value of over £3 billion and an average value of over £56 million. In exercises of this nature, there are inevitably some worthwhile potential projects which do not receive funding. However, officials from the Department are responding to requests for advice on how these applications can be strengthened for the future. It would incur disproportionate costs to provide details of every LEA which applied for funding, successful or otherwise, and the full purposes of their applications.