HC Deb 20 July 2001 vol 372 cc740-1W
Mr. Austin Mitchell

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many(a) PFI and (b) PPP contracts have been agreed by her Department in the last five years; how many have been satisfactorily completed; and in how many has compensation been (i) paid and (ii) claimed for performance failure. [4604]

Tessa Jowell

My Department has not itself entered into any PFI or PPP contracts over the last five years. The Royal Parks Agency, which is an Executive Agency, has entered into one PH contract in the last five years, which has yet to be completed. To date there has been no compensation claimed or paid in respect of this project.

Mr. Laws

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many PFI transactions have been overseen by her Department and its predecessors in each of the last 10 years; what her estimate is of the cost savings made in each of these transactions in comparison with the public sector alternative; what are the outstanding payments to be made in relation to these transactions for each of the next 15 years; and if she will make a statement. [5793]

Mr. Caborn

My Department has not itself entered into any PFI contracts. The Royal Parks Agency, which is an Executive Agency, has signed one PFI contract, which took effect in 1997, and the British Library, which is an NDPB, has signed two contracts, one of which took effect in 1997, the other is yet to begin.

My Department does not hold full details of these arrangements. I have contacted the RPA and the British Library for more information, and I will write to the hon. Member as soon as it is available, placing a copy of my letter in the Libraries of both Houses.

Published guidance on public sector comparators (PSC) notes that: Accounting Officers should not rely solely on a straight comparison of a PSC bid to its PSC, which should never be regarded as a pass/fail test, but instead as a quantitative way of informing judgment." (Treasury Taskforce Technical Note No. 5: How to construct a public sector comparator).

As agreed with the National Audit Office, payments to contractors under PH contracts are commercially confidential. Aggregate figures of estimated payments under all PFI contracts for the years 2000–01 to 2025–26 were published in table C18 of the Budget 2001 "Red Book".

Mr. Laws

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list the economic penalties imposed on private sector firms in each of the last five years for failures to deliver in relation to key performance indicators in projects involving the Private Finance Initiative; and if she will make a statement. [5794]

Mr. Caborn

I refer to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer.