Pressure on for PFI task force reprieve

THE Government is facing mounting pressure to make an early commitment to extend the life of its Private Finance Initiative task force or alternatively signal how it intends to replace it.

The task force, set up inside the Treasury to inject more rigour into the letting of PFI contracts and boost interest from private- sector partners, is due to be wound down next July under proposals from last year's Bates review.

However, the Government has already begun sounding out industry about what to do once its life comes to an end and a decision is likely to be made by the end of the year. The Confederation of British Industry, headed by president Sir Clive Thompson and one of the toughest critics of PFI's progress, is pressing the Government to keep the task force in operation in at least some manifestation. Charles Cox, head of the CBI's public procurement and efficiency committee, said the CBI had made its views clear in a series of meetings with the Government. He said: "For us the message is unanimous and clear: that the task force has made a big difference to the PFI and that it has to continue in some form. I believe the whole scheme will be seriously damaged if the Government just puts a stop to it and we have been saying this consistently to them. "One option is simply to extend the task force although this probably won't happen as the Government needs to be able to show it has achieved what it was set up to achieve. I think the most likely option is something will be put in its place more integral to the Treasury and along the lines of a more traditional civil service unit." Although the current task force was set up with the aim that department officials would have developed commercial skills for themselves by the end of its two-year existence, Cox said a number of Government departments were still lagging in their experience of PFI contracts. He said the existence of an "open-ended" body was needed to make sure good practice continued to be promoted across the public sector. A Treasury spokesman said: "We have started to consider arrangements for PFI post-task force. Malcolm Bates suggested it should have a fixed term and that afterwards departments would be self-sufficient and have no need for a central co-ordinating point. It is too early to draw any conclusions." Earlier this week the Government moved closer towards its aim of turning PFI procurement into an "assembly line" with the announcement of a further 30 projects worth GBP 4.25 billion. A total of GBP 4 billion of deals has been signed since Labour came to power, with plans to raise this to GBP 7 billion within the next two years.

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