62 Although the PSC methodology could be improved, there is a need in any case to move the debate on further. Some of the arguments about the PSC will continue, because experts fundamentally disagree over some of the issues. The PSC has lost the confidence of many people, and risks being seen more as a hoop to jump through on the way to government funding than a valuable exercise that can help to ensure better VFM.
63 Affordability issues can be a barrier to optimal VFM and potentially compromise some of the basic tenets of PFI. Any funding mechanism has to be adequate, and the risk with PFI is that the impact of under-funding may well surface several years into the contract, allowing LEAs little room for manoeuvre. Such considerations also fit with the Prime Minister's emphasis that good design should not be seen as a costly luxury - indeed it 'delivers better value for money as well as better buildings, particularly when attention is paid to the full costs of a building over its whole lifetime' (Ref. 13). So, what next for PFI? This is the subject of the final chapter.