Really interesting post as I have never been able to understand this PFI stuff.

I note that you confirm that "all" schools and hospitals have been built using PFI credits. Can you explain how that was done using the £6billion National Academies Frameworks or how the £2billion P21 health facilities building programme also utilised PFI credits.

Also can you clarify that the planned £80million investment in Warrington high schools is to be via PFI credits as I thought that only applied to one of the sample schools (which I think is in Runcorn) whilst the remainder is to be centrally financed. Wasn't that how the new building works at Culceth High School financed also or was that via PFI?

I'm not really certain everything you are saying is correct but feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

Could you please add the current redevelopment of Birchwood High and pending redevelopment of Great Sankey to your list.

PFI doesn't fund all government investment, its just an option which provides quick money for an immediate project. It was a Conservative policy from the early 90s, its just got associated with "New Labour" as they used it most readily. The concept of funding government investment though borrowing is not a new one, they could have just increased the budget deficit by borrowing on the markets to pay for the hospitals/schools instead. The biggest charge against PFI is that it was supposed to 'harness the extra efficiency of the private sector' in public service provision but in many cases it turned out to be a mechanism for private contractors to milk the taxpayer and underdeliver. There were major concerns raised in the public sector a good ten years ago about the way PFI was going but they were ignored, just like there were concerns raised in the public sector about the growing amounts of waste and layers of well paid bureaucratic jobs which were draining money from the taxpayer to pay for a public-sector-management class to enrich themselves and get inflated pensions. Now the government has realised that those warnings were right, and the public sector is going to have to pay for it.

Simple truth is the public sector is, on balance, very poor at spending tax payers' money never mind private investment, and it's basically a hideously complicated employment scheme. The private sector would ravage them if given a chance, and deliver more value. Let's pray for a Tory government with balls.

I'm not an expert on PFI so I'm looking forward to the next instalment from Monmouth Wire.

Ooofffff

I don't buy this ideological argument that public sector = inefficient, private sector = efficient. There is good management and bad management which can happen in the public or private sector.

I also think the two sectors should be kept separate, don't try and get the private sector to deliver public provision. However I do think that the public sector should focus on quality not quantity. They need to get more decentralised and to a culture of trusting local management rather than building in constant layers of extra bureaucracy in the name of ensuring accountability and political correctness. Really the answers can be gained by asking the people at the cutting edge of the public sector what needs to be done, they all want to be freed from the excessive paperwork and bureaucracy which New Labour have brought in.

The global financial crisis let us not forget, was caused by bad private sector management, by the most highly paid elites of the private sector. They sanctioned the level of lending to poor risk borrowers and had no contingency for their plan failing, and when it did, the banks who failed had to fall back on public sector money, which is hardly an argument for the supremacy of the private sector.

I will be interested to see if this changes if the Tories win. Will they really want to let go of the control the government has over the management of the public sector in the name of audit and accountability? Not sure how much it is a New Labour thing as a 21st Century thing.

i for one,unlike your good self, am not enamoured by the prospect of fat dave and his bullingdon club buddy george taking us through the next stage of recovery in this WORLDWIDE recession,not so long ago they were telling us that they would have let the recession run it's course,now they seem to have all the answers without truly backing up how they will do it.
it's irony at it's finest know that multi millionaires can tell the public to expect a period of austerity whilst downing the pimms and champers in their oxfordshire mansions,i am disapointed in some things that this current government have done but find it staggering that when the rest of the world were scratching their heads on what to do brown and darling took action to which the others followed but the bulk of the english press chose to ignore this.
our economic growth is forecast to outstrip america,germany and many other leading manufacturing nations so they must have implemented actions that are beginning to work, to change governments now could be truly disastrous and your much maligned private sector would have nothing to get their teeth into anyway if the tory's get in and begin slashing at the things they are currently promising to protect.
being in opposition to government in this country must be the easiest job in the world you just disagree with the government on everything and say that you can do it better,the people who actually can be bothered to get out and vote will decide,i personally think it will be a close call.

rlWho should you vote for?rl

This is good.

Well according to that i should vote UKIP

I do wonder if it has an in-built bias towards UKIP/Tories given the newspaper it is in.

I wouldn't expect that level cynicism from you!

Have you read the questions?

No i'm on my phone it would take me forever.