The model described in this report is based on our interviews and past work with Departments' teams managing programmes of Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) and Private Finance Initiative (PFI) projects. These teams are often known as Private Finance Units, but have a diversity of names and roles. In the model we call them the Unit.
We thank the ten Departments and their Units involved in this review for their help in producing this model:
• Ministry of Defence
• Department for Transport
• Department for Children, Schools and Families
• Department of Communities and Local Government
• Department for Culture, Media and Sport
• Home Office
• Ministry of Justice
• Department of Health
• Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
• Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
The model provides Departments with:
• an understanding of current best practice amongst their peers;
• an understanding of the functions and activities that HM Treasury and the NAO expect from Departments in their oversight of their respective programmes involving PPP and PFIs; and
• a benchmark against which they can access their own activities to provide themselves with assurance that they are meeting current best practice.
What is this model?
• Normative: it sets out HM Treasury and NAO expectations of what the Units ought to be doing.
• Inductive: it is based on our observations of real practice. Even where it is aspirational, at least one Department is striving to do this.
• An ideal type: no-one actually does all of this; it takes the best practice from across Government, and sets out what it would be like if an organisation strived to undertake all the best practice.
• Generic: it is not tailored to any particular Department. We believe every Department could benefit from looking at this model, but we accept that each will want to implement it in their own way.
• Supplementary: it does not replace and is compatible with existing NAO, OGC and HM Treasury guidance.
• Not the final word: we look forward to hearing from others on their views, and especially to hearing of practice that improves upon the best practice contained here.