Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contract questions: FOI release

Information requested

You asked for the following information. 

1. PFI contracts that the Scottish Government has ended early since 2010.
(a) and where possible, with details of why these contracts were terminated early.

2. PFI contracts that the Scottish Government has taken into public ownership since 2010.

3. The total cost of a public buyout of all outstanding PFI contracts.

Response

In relation to point 1, the Scottish Government has not ended any PFI contracts since 2010.  However, there have been three PFI contracts that the Scottish Government provided funding in support for that have been terminated by the respective procuring bodies since 2010.  Details relating to these PFI contracts and why they were terminated are as follows:

Stirling Further Education Centre (Forth Valley College) - the education facility opened in 1998 and the project had a capital value of £3.6 million.  A decision to terminate the PFI contract was announced by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) in January 2011.  The facility was not deemed appropriate for the considered curriculum areas and lacked the scope for redevelopment that Forth Valley College was making plans for.  As this space would be redundant once a new campus was complete in Stirling, the SFC agreed with the College that its buy-out of the PFI contract was value for money. The facility was subsequently sold to Stirling Council with the receipts contributing towards the costs of building the College’s Stirling and Alloa campuses.

Baldovie (Dundee City Council) - the waste plant opened in 1999 and the project had a capital value of £43 million.  The PFI contract was terminated by Dundee City Council in November 2017.  This was in order to secure a new long-term solution for the disposal of residual waste and in light of the operational difficulties that the plant had experienced over a number of years. 

Dumfries and Galloway Waste (Dumfries and Galloway Council) - the waste facility opened in 2006 and the project had a capital value of £25 million.  Dumfries and Galloway Council terminated the PFI contract and transition arrangements concluded on 11 November 2018.   The contract was terminated by the Council due to ongoing operational losses and followed a negotiated agreement between the Council, Project Company and Service Company.

In relation to point 2, the Scottish Government has not taken any PFI contracts into public ownership since 2010.

In relation to point 3, the management of each individual PFI contract is a matter for the respective procuring body that awarded the contract, the buying out of which, should only be considered where there is a value for money case in doing so.

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