Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 19
39th Report - Government’s use of private finance for infrastructure
Published 11 Jul 2025
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee Government’s use of private finance for infrastructure All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
There is a general recognition that sectors, including the construction industry, may lack the appropriate skills and workforce to deliver on the government’s infrastructure strategy. NISTA told us that, in collaboration with the Department for Business and Trade and the Department for Education, it has a role in supplying the information needed to determine the skills requirement. This will in turn link to the pipeline and the 10-year infrastructure strategy that organisations such as Skills England will use to identify what the long-term requirements for skills in the UK are over 10, 15 or 20 years to ensure that infrastructure projects can be delivered.43 39 Committee of Public Accounts, Delivering value from government investment in major projects, Thirty-Second Report of Session 2023–24, HC 456, May 2024; Committee of Public Accounts, HS2: Update following the Northern leg cancellation, Tenth Report of Session 2024–25, HC 357, February 2025 40 Qq 10-12 41 C&AG’s Report, para 2.17 42 C&AG’s Report, para 2.21 43 Q 68 14
From: Public Accounts Committee, 39th Report - Government’s use of private finance for infrastructure (HC 821), 11 July 2025
Government response
Latest Treasury Minutes progress report to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Thirty-ninth Report of Session 2024-26
The government responded to the whole report on 4 June 2026 (deadline 11 September 2025).
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Thirty-ninth report from Session 2024-26
Published 15 October 2025.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government states that it "agrees with the Committee's recommendation" in each of the recommendations set out in the response, describing some as implemented and others as having target implementation dates between October 2026 and May 2027.
- On the pipeline, the government says the recommendation is implemented, citing the Infrastructure Pipeline published by NISTA in July 2025, with updates "every 6 months", and NISTA has written to the Committee alongside the Treasury Minute.
- On financing models, the government agrees but says the preferred model is "the one that offers the best value for money", appraised "on a case-by-case basis" using the Green Book.
- On a central database, the government agrees with a target implementation date of May 2027. It will expand the Pipeline over time and "explore whether" the additional information sits best there or in a parallel product; the Pipeline would not include legacy PFI or commercially sensitive information.
- On risk allocation, the government agrees with a target date of May 2026, saying the Treasury and NISTA "will set out further guidance by May 2026" on contract and performance management and on resetting infrastructure projects.