7.17 The Government's commitment to PFI is based on its ability to deliver value for money in public investment, while protecting the terms and conditions of employees. Therefore - as the Government has always made clear - value for money should not be achieved at the expense of staff terms and conditions.
7.18 The Government believes that PFI procurement does not involve maximising the transfer of employees to the private sector and that the value for money benefits it can offer, outlined in Chapters 3 and 4, are not obtained at the expense of workers' terms and conditions.
7.19 To ensure that the value of money delivered by PFI does not come at the expense of employees' terms and conditions, Departments have the option of not transferring soft services staff in a PFI project, where they believe their transfer is not essential for achieving the overall benefits of improved standard of service delivery specified by the procurer, and where not transferring staff is consistent with delivery the Prime Minister's commitment to flexibility in public service provision.
7.20 Where staff transfers do occur, the Government will continue to protect the terms and conditions of transferred staff.