It's Time to Win Back Our Schools and Hospitals

The SNP has long called for the replacement of the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) scheme used by the Labour government to fund public projects. Our argument was lent some additional weight by the recent publication of a report undertaken by the respected Allyson Pollock of Edinburgh University that appeared in the Public Money and Management Journal. Professor Pollock states in the study that government claims that PFI delivers projects more quickly and more efficiently than other methods of borrowing are "either non-existent or false" and that comparisons are "rigged in favour of PFI and that Treasury policy is not evidence based". Government claims that PFI represents best value for money are therefore utter baloney.

This is particularly pertinent for people in Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, whose local authority and local health board are big on PFI. North Lanarkshire's schools modernisation project cost £280.7 million. Meantime the cost to the taxpayer of NHS Lanarkshire's projects to build the Hairmyres and Wishaw General hospitals will be almost £1,200 million over the coming years, despite these two schemes only costing around £260million to build. This means that Cumbernauld and Kilsyth residents, in common with those across Scotland, are paying through the nose for PFI to line the pockets of private businesses.

Polling data compiled for the BBC also indicates that the number one priority for the electorate in the Scottish Parliament election is building and running schools and hospitals through public bodies. The public are wakening up to the PFI con. People wouldn't accept it if they paid up a mortgage and didn't own their house at the end of it, yet we are meant to accept this type of arrangement for our schools and hospitals.

The SNP plans to introduce a not for profit trust to finance future projects. This means that millions of pounds of taxpayers money will no longer find its way into private hands and will be much better value for money. This also chimes with the message people are sending out to pollsters, and that is that our schools and hospitals should be built and run through public bodies. The SNP will respond to that concern and deliver just that.