Recommendation 29

The NAO noted in its latest report on Private finance for infrastructure that while there has been some progress made, much remains unchanged, with public bodies continuing to show a lack of preparedness for contract expiry – particularly for long-term contracts.68 We asked Mr Dalgleish how effective he thinks the government is at managing PFI or Public Private Partnership contracts in general. He told us that a large amount of good work has been done by what is now NISTA in terms of producing guidance, however, there was now a large amount of data and guidance for public bodies to try to digest, particularly by public bodies who also cannot afford good contract management capability in the first place.69