A new report from the Centre for Public Services investigates the impact of the growing trend of using Private Finance Initiatives (PFI) and Public Private Partnerships (PPP) to fund public services. What future for public services? charts the history of PFI from their Conservative origins to the Labour government’s use of such projects. The report explains the alleged rationale behind these initiatives before providing a comprehensive series of points that are highly critical of them. An entire section of the report highlights twenty-five reasons to oppose PFI. They range from the expense of such projects, many of which cost more than publicly financed ones, to their lack of democratic accountability.
Drawing on the Centre’s research on PFI/PPPs over the last seven years, the report also details the overlapping business interests of the major companies which are at the core of the PFI industry (see section). What future for public services? provides a thorough critical evaluation of the seismic shifts which are slowly altering the way in which the nation’s public services are funded, whilst providing a set of alternatives to these projects.