Transport Scotland - Private finance initiative (PFI) contracts: FOI release
Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.
Information requested
Please can I request under the Freedom of Information Act the following information in relation to any Private Finance Initiative contracts ever struck by yourselves or your predecessor organisations:
1) For each contract, the projected total (whole life) cost of the scheme, in £, detailed when the scheme was first agreed (i.e. the original projected cost of all Unitary Charge Payments over the full life of the scheme).
2) The projected total (whole life) cost of the scheme, in £, as at August 1, 2019 (i.e. the real cost for previous years and projected cost for future years of all Unitary Charge Payments over the full life of the scheme).
If there is a difference between 1 and 2, please can you provide details of:
A) The date(s) the projected costs changed
B) The reason(s) the projected costs changed
Please can I also request:
3) A copy of the original contract/agreement;
4) An itemised list of any payments made to the PFI contractors for services not included in the original PFI deal, from the beginning of the deal to the current date, and to include exact details of what was being paid for.
Response
In relation to points 1 and 2, most of that information you have requested is available from the Scottish Government website at the following address SG Finance. Information on current projects can be found at the following sections:
- operational PPP/PFI projects – unitary payment charges
- pipeline NPD/Hub projects – unitary payment charges
These workbooks can be filtered to identify projects which fall within Transport Scotland’s overall responsibility.
HM Treasury publish PFI summary data on an annual basis. The earliest projections of the cost of the Unitary Charge payments over time which are available online were published in 2013 and can be found at: https://www.webarchive.org.uk/wayback/en/archive/20150818132920/https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/private-finance-initiative-projects-2013-summary-data
Projections for the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route and M8/M73/M74 improvements were first published in 2015 and can be found at the following link: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Government/Finance/18232/12308/NPDhubPipelinepayments
The changes in the figures can mainly be attributed to two key factors. The first factor being indexation. Changes are reflective of indexation changes not matching the assumptions made in the original models. The second factor being date changes to the phasing of when sections of the projects were brought into operation.
More specifically, in regards to the M6, the variance is also in part due to traffic growth exceeding forecasts. The divergence has been a gradual process, and is not related to one event or a particular date. For the M77, in April 2016, the variable usage element of the M77 Unitary charge was amended to a fixed payment by way of an Amendment Agreement between East Renfrewshire Council and Connect M77/GSO plc.
In response to point 3, contract documentation for a number of the PFI schemes are publicly available at the following links:
AWPR - https://www.transport.gov.scot/publication/aberdeen-western-peripheral-route-contract-documentation/
M77 - https://www2.gov.scot/resource/doc/81827/0054532.pdf
M80 - Contract documentation is not published online, please see the copy attached below
Finally in response to point 4, an itemised list of additional payments is attached:
About FOI
The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.
Contact
Please quote the FOI reference
Central Enquiry Unit
Email: ceu@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000
The Scottish Government
St Andrews House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG
There is a problem
Thanks for your feedback