Is the Scottish Futures Trust a credible alternative to PFI?

Both the Scottish Futures Trust (SFT) and the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) have come under major criticism regarding funding and delays. The Scottish Government chose to move forward with SFT as its procurement option for major projects but has yet to assist any project, even though the Trust has been set up for nearly two years. On the other hand, the government has had to use taxpayers' money to help save projects that are being procured using PFI. The PPP Journal asks politicians and industry experts for their views on SFT and PFI and what the future holds for these models.


Dave Watson, Scottish Organiser, Unison

The future for the Scottish Futures Trust should be to secure best value for taxpayers by using
cheaper conventional public funding – as with the new South Glasgow Hospitals. There should be no future for the scandalously expensive PFI/PPP and the books must be opened to independent scrutiny to learn lessons. Instead, the Scottish Government set up the SFT as an expensive quango that will continue to promote PPP, wasting further public money on top of the billions extra it has already cost. This flies in the face of the SNP April conference's re-stated opposition to PFI/PPP. Public Accounts Committee Chairman Edward Leigh described PFI refinancing scandals as the "unacceptable face of capitalism". The kind of p... › Read more