Funding the Future

This conference was aimed at officials and looked at the arguments for and against Public Private Partnerships (PPP) as a way of funding schools. Report by Judith Gillespie

This conference was aimed at officials and looked at the arguments for and against Public Private Partnerships (PPP) as a way of funding schools. The keynote speaker was Andy Kerr, the Minister for Finance and he started by announcing a new deal which would protect the pay levels and conditions of service of those employed in PPP projects whether they had transferred from the public sector or were subsequently taken on. Otherwise he emphasised the advantages - the number of new schools, the guaranteed maintenance of standards, the pressures on builders to do a good job.

In the course of the conference it was made clear by more than one speaker that there was no new, private money - PPPs were really funded by the government.

Public Trusts were proposed as a better alternative but these are really just a variation on PPP with the management consortium being a public trust not a private company.

There was some discussion as to whether the trust would be entitled to charitable tax benefits - a point not yet determined.

The importance of the contract and the need to get this right was highlighted as well as the problems faced by the consumer if something did not work well for them but was working according to the contract.

A report from a health official who had been involved in both PPP and non-PPP projects said that there was no actual difference. It was perfectly possible to put in place long-term planning and maintenance in a non-PPP project.

Similarly, on the schools side, St Margaret's in West Lothian was mentioned as a successful school that had been built through traditional funding means.
There was criticism of the government for suggesting that PPP was not the only funding game in town and then effectively making it so by not providing adequate money for alternatives.

However, Ewen Aitken spoke of success in Edinburgh and of negotiating flexibility in terms of the building and use.