§ Baroness Thorntonasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they have reached a decision on the bids for notional credit approvals under the second round of the private finance initiative for the Fire Service. [HL2042]
§ Lord Bassam of BrightonWe received indicative bids from 10 fire authorities for notional credit approvals under this second Private Finance Initiative (PFI) round for the fire service.
My right honourable friend the Home Secretary has today decided that notional credit approvals for 2001–02 should be set aside in respect of indicative bids from the fire authorities for:
- Tyne and Wear (Phase 1 of its proposed scheme);
- West Midlands;
- Dorset; and
- Mid and West Wales.
It will now be for those authorities to prepare an outline business case. Confirmation of the credit approvals will be given only on completion of such a 52WA business case demonstrating that PFI is the most cost-effective solution for the projects concerned, and on approval of the inter-departmental Project Review Group.
My right honourable friend the Home Secretary has also decided that he will be prepared to consider further the indicative bids from Tyne and Wear (Phase II) and London once decisions on provision of notional credit approvals for 2002–03 have been taken.
We shall be in touch with all those authorities whose bids were not selected on this occasion to offer guidance on how the bids might be developed and resubmitted in any future bidding rounds.