9. Would public sector investment in the last decade have been lower without Private Finance? If so, by how much?
9.1 The answer is certainly yes, public sector investment would have been significantly lower without PF/PPP although it is almost impossible to quantify by how much for reasons previously set out. LIFT itself has been responsible for £1.8 billion of investment in primary and community care facilities in the NHS; if the public sector had built £1.8 billion worth of facilities, the sums available for NHS services would have been massively reduced. In addition, under LIFT, the cost for PCTs is spread out over a period of 25 years which makes it eminently more affordable as well as incorporating the cost of building maintenance over this period.