§ 34. Mr. David HeathTo ask the Chairman of the Public Accounts Commission what assessment the Commission has made of the adequacy of the resources available to the National Audit Office to assess the value for money of public-private partnership funded schemes. [101990]
§ Mr. SheldonThe Commission last met on 2 December to consider the estimates for the National Audit Office. Clearly, the evaluation of public-private partnership schemes, including projects under the Private Finance Initiative, is a major priority for the National Audit Office. Within the past two years, the NAO has published 10 reports on such projects and a further report setting out its criteria for evaluating public-private partnerships. More work in this area is planned and, while the Commission will continue to monitor the situation, I am satisfied that at present the current level of funding for this work is adequate.