Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of payments under Private Finance Initiative contracts in the last financial year related to (a) capital repayment, (b) interest and (c) service charges.

The Government’s preferred financing model for any type of infrastructure project is the one that offers the best value for money. Proposals are appraised on a case-by-case basis using the Green Book.

Public sector contracting authorities directly manage Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contracts and are responsible for monitoring and managing their respective contracts to ensure value for money.

Since 2020, the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA), formerly Infrastructure and Projects Authority, has provided advice and training directly to contracting authorities to support them in navigating issues relating to PFI projects (operational and expiry-related).

PFI payments are made by “unitary charge”, which are not broken down by underlying cost drivers. Therefore, the proportion of payments that are (a) capital repayment, (b) interest and (c) service charges is not readily available, nor is data on costs which have arisen because of inflation and indexing.

Data on PFI and PF2 projects can be found at the following weblink: PFI and PF2 projects: 2024 Summary Data - GOV.UK