7 Information collected by the NAO indicates that most contracts are performing satisfactorily or better and meeting the expectations of Trusts. We base this on each Trust's reported satisfaction, and information from their Performance Management Systems. Sixty-seven per cent of Trusts report satisfaction with their contracts, and the majority of Trusts report consistent or improved performance over time. The level of penalties applied for poor performance is low. Fifty three per cent of Trusts charged no deductions in 2008-09, with the remainder charging deductions which represented a low percentage of their annual payments. Although we have some reservations about data quality, we believe that there is strong enough evidence to say that most contracts are delivering the value for money expected of them.
8 However, there is scope for improvements. Thirty-three per cent of Trusts are dissatisfied with at least one of the services they receive under their PFI contracts. None rated all services as excellent. Problems with performance have varied and do not suggest a single set of systematic issues.
9 Available information shows the cost and performance of PFI hotel services are similar to those services in non-PFI hospitals. The cost of each service varies significantly in both PFI and non-PFI hospitals, and there is a large amount of overlap in these price ranges between the PFI and non-PFI groups. Most of the variation in costs cannot be explained using the Department's current information. There is also no difference between Trust assessments of performance against objective measures for cleaning and catering services in PFI and non-PFI hospitals. There are no comparisons of the performance of other services. Our analysis shows:
• cleaning, laundry and portering costs are about the same whether delivered through PFI or not;
• catering is on average slightly cheaper in PFI hospitals; and
• hospitals with PFI buildings spend more on maintenance annually, because the contracts require them to be maintained to a specified high standard.
It was not possible to do this analysis for 2008-09 or 2009-10 because the NHS stopped collecting the data.
10 It is thus not clear whether it is better or worse value for money to include the hotel services within the PFI contract, rather than managing them separately. The value for money of the whole PFI contract, however, depends upon wider factors outside the scope of this report, such as potential benefits from the construction and design of the buildings, risk transfer during the construction phase or having fixed whole life costs, all set against the higher costs of private finance.