Do respondents think that the private sector has a role to play in the future delivery of public sector assets? Are there specific sectors where the private sector should not have a role?

The Private sector must have a role in the delivery of public sector assets across sectors. There are core skills sitting in the private sector in relation to asset creation and management that are not core to the public sector, which is rightly focussed on the commissioning and provision of public services. The key to maximising value for money is to:

-  use private sector skills and capacity appropriately where they complement and augment public sector skills and capacity;

-  Create clarity over what is expected and what the reward should rightfully be for risks taken by the private sector;

-  Transfer risks robustly where a private sector party is genuinely able to manage them (as opposed to just where the public customer is not able to manage them).

Across the phases of development of a public sector asset:

Commissioning: Determining the need for the asset and the outcome requirements from it - public sector responsibility, with an increased focus in the future on joined-up asset planning across public sector organisations to create a sustainable estate fit (in the social infrastructure sector) for joined up service provision. Private sector asset portfolio rationalisations skills have a part to play.

Specification - At the highest level determining what the form (and potentially location) of the asset to meet the need should be - public sector responsibility, with an increased focus on addressing "needs not wants" and creating space and cost efficient sustainable assets. Private sector expertise in describing the specification has a part to play.

Design - The design of an asset to meet the specification - private sector responsibility, there are some areas of the public sector with in-house design capability and this can be valuable. Public sector can engage private sector designers directly however, early involvement of construction and life-cycle expertise can deliver life cycle cost benefits. Careful consideration of the hand-over point between client-led design and contractor-led design is critical.

Construction - The creation of the asset - private sector responsibility procured from construction contractors under a wide variety of models.

Financing - Infrastructure funding is the primary stream of revenues used to offset the cost of the asset. Financing is the way in which that stream is manipulated to make funds available when they are needed. -One of the points of this paper overall so covered elsewhere

Life Cycle maintenance - The management, preventative maintenance and replacement of elements of the asset over time to preserve its condition - One of the points of this paper. See Q4.

Reactive Maintenance & hard facilities management - The every-day maintenance of the fabric and systems of the asset to correct faults and breakages - Again one of the subjects here see S10.

Soft Facilities management - The provision of non-core services required by the use of the asset for example cleaning, catering, security. - Public or private. Increasingly SFT sees the public or private provision of these services to be independent of the creation and maintenance of the asset itself. The public sector can deliver these services itself or contract for a private sector provider to deliver them, most likely under a short-to-medium term contract arrangement. See S11.

Service provision - The delivery of front-line services from the asset if it is social infrastructure, or the use of the asset / provision of the services that run on it (eg rail) or commodities that are run through it (eg information / electricity) - Separable generally from the provision of the asset itself, but with an important differential as to whether there is a direct user-payment, or payment from general taxation.