1. I am pleased to submit this response, on behalf of KPMG LLP, to your call for evidence in relation to Private Finance Projects and off-balance sheet debt.
2. Private Finance Initiative (PFI) was introduced in November 1992. With over 600 projects having reached financial close1 the UK has more experience of this form of procurement than any other country. There is a considerable amount of data and research on the performance of PFI, though the information is not perfect and in need of improvement in terms of quality. The availability of performance data does however compare especially favourably with that on Public Finance projects for which data is scarce. The lack of good quality data on Public Finance projects is a key inhibitor of comparative like-for-like analyses on the performance of Private and Public Finance, something we believe should be addressed.
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1 HM Treasury (2009) PFI Signed Projects List-April 2009.