Tonight at 6pm sees the second Isle of Wight council PFI information meeting take place, this time at County Hall in Newport.
Just following the meeting at 8pm, Gerry Northam presents a File on 4 PFI Specia.
If you’re interested in finding out more about the £200bn of taxpayers’ money that feeds the profits of PFI schemes, this is going to be vital listening.
With one cabinet minister stating, ‘the people on the other side must have been laughing all the way to the bank’ we’ll be very interested to hear what the Isle of Wight council have to say about findings of the investigation.
The précis for the programme reads …
For two decades, the Private Finance Initiative has been a controversial way of building new hospitals, schools, roads and prisons. Well over £200bn of taxpayers’ money has been committed to the companies managing these projects.
The coalition government describes some PFI contracts as ‘ghastly’ and wants some of this cash back. One cabinet minister says ‘the people on the other side must have been laughing all the way to the bank’.
But, while public services are facing cuts, PFI payments are guaranteed under watertight contracts. So experts say the government can win only small amounts in rebates.
Much of the money has already gone offshore. Huge profits have been made by selling and reselling many contracts in a secretive ‘secondary market’ – with none of the proceeds returning to the taxpayer.Gerry Northam investigates gaps in HM Treasury’s knowledge of this trade and asks if PFI represents value for public money.
The programme goes out tonight on Radio 4 at 8pm and is repeated on Sunday at 5pm.
