§ Mr. LawsTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment his Department has carried out into(a) cost savings and (b) efficiency savings in total Government expenditure through the use of the Private Finance Initiative; and if he will make a statement. [1382]
§ Mr. Andrew SmithThe information that has been requested is not kept centrally. The nature and diversity of PFI projects would make any global figure broken down in the way requested ambiguous.
However, there have been two substantive reports on PFI, since its inception, which have indicated that PFI is delivering value for money. The independent Arthur Andersen and Enterprise LSE Report stated the average percentage estimated saving against conventional procurement for the sample of projects they looked at, averaged 17 per cent. Also the NAO report on "PFI and value for money" found an average cost saving of 20 per cent. or just under £1 billion in total, across seven projects examined by the NAO up until December 1999. This saving is measured against the conventional procurement route.