The United Kingdom has used public-private partnerships to build or improve a vast array of infrastructure including roads, museums, office buildings, and prisons. The Head of Private Finance for Her Majesty's Treasury has said that public-private partnerships and the private finance initiative have "deliver[ed] on time and to budget, on major capital projects to which the Government is committed, in a way that has never previously been seen."[125]
Public-private partnership first became popular in Great Britain when launched by the Conservative Party in the early 1990's. British infrastructure, most notably highways, had become plagued with delays as local governments were burdened with the cost of maintenance and renewal. The prohibitive costs of renewal meant that improvements were often critically delayed, resulting in massive declines in infrastructure quality. When construction finally began, limited public funds often meant that completion was delayed and, as a result, costs increased.
In the past decade, the use of public-private partnerships in the United Kingdom has proved a remarkable remedy. A recent survey by Her Majesty's Treasury shows that out of 61 public-private partnership projects, nearly 90 percent were completed early or on time.[126] Projects that were not completed on time were completed within three months of the scheduled completion date.[127] As a result of these successes, Britain has sought to utilize public-private partnerships to a much greater extent; in 2003-2004 investment is projected to make up 11 percent of total investment in public services (approximately $61.3 billion). A total of 451 public-private partnership projects have been completed, including 34 hospitals and 239 new and refurbished schools.