As reader Jonno points out in comments to the previous post on this, the problems with Public Private Partnerships are beginning to become apparent even in the UK where, under the name of the Private Finance Initiative, the idea has been pushed strongly by both Conservative and Labour governments.

This report in the Guardian indicates that the UK Treasury is pulling back from an aspect of the PPP model I’ve long criticised, the bundling of “soft services” like cleaning and catering into contracts for the construction and maintenance of hospitals and schools. The British government is still pushing ahead, under intense pressure from the business interests who benefit from these schemes, but the Treasury Report while unsurprisingly positive in tone, stresses the subsidiary role of the PFI, which is expected to account for between 10 and 15 per cent of total investment in public services.