123. Contractors cited examples where PFPs had led to innovation. These included prisons where long wide corridors enabled better use of CCTV and improved safety for inmates and staff; hospitals where better designed corridors enabled smoother transport of patients; and better road surfacing treatment which reduced disruption to motorists (CBI p 53, John Laing p 211).
124. But public sector consumers of PFPs-including from the ministries of health, transport and defence-disagreed. Jon Thompson, director-general of finance at the Ministry of Defence, said: "We do not think there has been a tremendous amount of innovation through PFI." (Mr Thompson Q 525, Mr Peter Coates Q 525, Sir Peter Dixon Q 339). Ms Mingay said: "When we think about PFI we do not see it necessarily as a big area of innovation but more as a whole life costing, providing better focused planning and integration and that kind of thing" (Q 527).
125. There are barriers to innovation. During the bidding process little time is devoted to innovative ideas as it is only one factor in whether a consortium wins a bid. Cost and duration of construction may receive more attention. During tendering, clients often cannot spend time with all the bidders to collaborate on potential innovative ideas. When any innovative ideas are finally costed, they may be too expensive and be abandoned. Moreover, the intention of private finance is to allocate risk to the contractor. That can encourage contractors to play safe with tried and tested methods to lessen the risk of something going wrong and being penalised with reduced payments (NAO pp 90-91).
126. PFPs have led to some innovation although few witnesses described this as a key reason for using private finance. It is for public sector clients to request more innovation from contractors when negotiating private finance contracts, if that is what they are seeking.