PFI

Private Finance Initiatives (PFI) - formerly known as Public Private Partnerships (PPP) - is the umbrella name given to a range of initiatives which involve the private sector in the operation of public services.

The key difference between PFI and conventional ways of providing public services is that the public does not own the asset. The authority makes an annual payment to the private company who provides the building and associated services, rather like a mortgage.

A typical PFI project will be owned by a company set up specially to run the scheme. These companies are usually a consortia including a building firm, a bank and a facilities management company. Whilst PFI projects can be structured in different ways, there are usually four key elements: Design, Finance, Build and Operate.

We are opposed to PFI because the privatisation of services is not in the publci interest. Instead, it leads to a disjointed NHS, compromised quality of care and an undermining of the ethos of the NHS. Furthermore, it is economically unsound, creating huge debts in the long-term which do not outweigh the immediate benefits.

The Scottish executive and the UK government favour PFI prjects because it enables them to meet short-term targets without "immediate recourse to the public" (Department of Health). However, what our leaders are doing is mortgaging the future of the NHS for short-term gains.

As we have seen in Scotland, only the SNP among the major parties is opposed to PFI, although the SSP and Solidarity have also widely condemned it. We believe that PFI needs to be scrapped and a moratorium placed on current PFI initiatives in order to ensure that the NHS is run professionally, efficiently and for the benifit of the public - not private companies.

For more information on PFI, why not look at the following websites?