Recommendation 4

The IPA is not clear what support will be provided to authorities with expiring PFI contracts, and who will provide that support. Each individual authority is responsible for managing the expiry of its PFI contract. When an authority needs help, support is often lacking, or it is not always clear how to access it, with varying degrees of support available from multiple sources across central government. The IPA is building capacity and plans to provide support and advice via its contract management programme. Local Partnerships provide training courses and lessons- learned examples when requested, while the sponsoring department is responsible for drawing on the expertise at the IPA. Some smaller authorities with multiple PFI contracts are being managed by a single person and could benefit more from additional capacity rather than training courses or specialist advice. The IPA asserts that it is working on proposals on how to provide additional resources, on top of those already available at the centre, and whether this is done by departments or regionally. Decisions about this are still outstanding, exacerbating the lack of support for those local authorities most at risk. Recommendation: The Treasury and the IPA should set out, within 3 months, their plan for providing support to all PFI contracts, especially those owned outside of central government. This should cover: