PFI schemes cost NHS billions

[Longterminvestor]

Private companies seem to be raking in a fortune from PFI deals to build new hospitals. Does this offer tax payers value for money? Is it morally right?

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/aug/30/private-companies-huge-profits-building-nhs-hospitals

 

[realdeals]

This is a scandal in my opinion - these PFI contracts simply defer payments which mushroom in the longer term.

Why are governments never held to account for deals which go badly wrong. One example is the Scottish Parliament which was forecast to cost circa £40m but the final cost was over £400m - more than 10 times the original cost. Yet no ministers lost their jobs, nobody was taken to court, its a scandal.

 

[Longterminvestor]

I agree to a certain extent and the fact much of this debt is "off balance sheet" tends to give a wrong impression UK national debt. They do the same with state funded final salary pension schemes - all off balance sheet debt.

 

[realdeals]

Never thought of it that way - I suppose agreeing to contracts at set premium rates is a way of hiding liabilities going forward.

 

[diyhelp]

It is a scandal that the politicians are allowed to be so free spending with tax payers money. It is the next generation who will pay the price.....

 

[Longterminvestor]

Has nobody ever attempted to take the government of the day to task in the courts over bad decisions? A lady took the government to court over the Brexit vote, and gained a partial win, so why are issues such as the scandal of PFI never looked at in the courts?

 

[nmb]

Would you trust a politician to run your business? No? Then why do we trust them to look after billions of pounds of tax payer funds without any recourse when they mess up?

 

[realdeals]

True - and these are the people making decisions which impact UK house prices. How many politicians actually have a successful record in business?

 

[diyhelp]

The main problem is getting out of these deals - the cost would be horrendous! Unfortunately, it is probably more sensible to see them out but NOT sign up to any more.