The Private Finance Initiative

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government – in the Senedd at 2:02 pm on 22 March 2023.

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Photo of Rebecca Evans Rebecca Evans Labour 2:02, 22 March 2023

Well, I will say that successive Welsh Governments have consistently avoided the pitfalls of PFI contracts, and as a result of our approach, liabilities relating to this type of scheme in Wales are much lower than in other parts of the UK. For example, the average cost per head of PFI schemes in Wales is around £40, and that's approximately a fifth of the cost per head across the UK as a whole.

In Wales, we've looked to develop a different kind of model, which is of course our mutual investment model. It does differ from traditional PFI in a number of ways. For example, it ensures that the businesses involved have to help the Welsh Government deliver on the objectives of the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015; they will, for example, need to deliver very stretching community benefits, and there are remedies for non-delivery; they will need to commit to the Welsh Government's ethical employment code, and also build with long-term sustainability and environmental efficiency in mind as well.

So, I think we've seen some very good examples—during the construction of the A465, for example, where we've seen lots of new local jobs being created, lots of employment for people who have experienced long-term unemployment, or who are not in employment, education or training, for example, and, of course, a number of community initiatives have been supported through the community initiatives programme, which was set up as part of that as well. So, I think it's important to recognise that we have developed the MIM model, but it does differ significantly from traditional PFI.