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  • 626 transactions in global renewable energy secondary market in 20 months in 2019-2020 cost US$289bn

    The growing renewable energy secondary market reflects the extent to which the sector has become financialised, marketised and privatised. The secondary market provides a mechanism for investors to extract profit at the development or operational stages of renewable energy projects. Detailed evidence of the global scale and scope of this market is set out in…

    Published on 29th October 2020. Last updated 6th July 2023.

  • Why Barnetā€™s Education and Skills must be an in-house service

    ā€œBarnet Councilā€™s draft Equality Impact Assessment is fundamentally inadequate because it does not assess the impact of the two options on the equality groups and assumes no negative impact. But there is a world of difference in terms and conditions, particularly pensions, between being transferred to the Council and being transferred to a Local Authority…

    Published on 29th October 2020. Last updated 6th July 2023.

  • Dexter Whitfield: How to create a public alternative to the privatization of life

    He argues that public ownership and re-municipalisation alone are insufficient to combat the culture of neoliberalism in our society in an article in advance of the Edinburgh book launch. A book launch for ā€˜Public Alternative to the Privatisation of Lifeā€™ chaired by Common Weal director Robin McAlpine, organised by Jubilee Scotland, will be held on…

    Published on 29th October 2020. Last updated 6th July 2023.

  • HICL Infrastructure to relocate to UK from Guernsey

    HICL Infrastructure Company Limited has announced that “it would be in the best interests of both the Company and its shareholders as a whole to change the domicile and tax residency of HICL’s investment business to the UK through the creation of a new UK incorporated company whose shares would be listed on the UKLA’s…

    Published on 29th October 2020. Last updated 6th July 2023.

  • Terminate the Capita Contracts and Redesign the Council

    A demand to terminate Barnet Council’s Capita Contracts and Redesign the Council has been made by Barnet UNISON. Barnet Council plans to carry out a review of three options – either to maintain the status quo, return some services in-house or to terminate both the back-office services and regeneration contracts and return to in-house provision.…

    Published on 29th October 2020. Last updated 6th July 2023.

  • Offshore links to Scottish private finance deals with pension fund investment

    An investigation into the ownership and offshoring of Scotland’s NPD and Hub Projects reveals that 60% of NPD (Non-Profit Distributing) and hub projects have shareholders with corporate relationships with offshore tax havens of Jersey, Guernsey, Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands, Dubai International Financial Centre, Luxembourg and Cyprus. The investigation was commissioned by The Guardian and…

    Published on 29th October 2020. Last updated 6th July 2023.

  • Nationalising Special Purpose Vehicles to end PFI: A discussion of the costs and benefits

    The paper by Dr Helen Mercer and Professor Dexter Whitfield is available via the Public Services International Research Unit, University of Greenwich. Abstract The articleā€™s principal purpose is to provide an initial set of costings relating to the proposal to end PFIs in the UK through nationalising the Special Purpose Vehicles. The article uses book…

    Published on 29th October 2020. Last updated 6th July 2023.

  • Damming report into easyCouncil outsourcing

    Barnet UNISON and ESSU have published a damming assessment of the London Borough of Barnet’s attempt to become the capital of outsourcing and privatisation. The report, ‘Future Shape’ ‘easyCouncil’ and ‘One Barnet’ = Failure, is highly critical of commissioning and 356% rise in its cost; the Ā£24m spent on the One Barnet programme, mainly the…

    Published on 29th October 2020. Last updated 6th July 2023.

  • Infrastructure fund to abandon offshore tax haven status

    The John Laing Infrastructure Fund (JLIF) has decided to terminate its Guernsey offshore registration and become a UK investment trust. Announcing the results and annual report for 2017 on 23 March 2018, the chair, David MacLellan, cited recent problems in JLIF PFI projects such as the serious defects at Roseberry Park Hospital, fire safety enforcement…

    Published on 29th October 2020. Last updated 6th July 2023.

  • Carillion made Ā£500m in revenue from selling PFI projects and netted annual returns of up to 39%

    Research by the European Services Strategy Unit has exposed the fact that Carillion plc sold equity in 49 PFI projects between 2003 and 2017 gaining a revenue of Ā£500m. Most of the transactions were to offshore infrastructure funds. Carillion currently has 25%-90% equity stakes in 12 PFI projects with a capital value of Ā£1,281m. In…

    Published on 29th October 2020. Last updated 6th July 2023.