1. We examined whether the OGC and departments have addressed the concerns about the public sector's approach to refinancing raised by the NAO and PAC reports on the refinancing of the Fazakerley PFI prison contract.
2. We conducted a survey of all PFI contracts signed before May 2002 with a capital value of £10 million or over, based on records maintained by the OGC. We received responses from 116 central government projects, a response rate of 93 per cent. We also requested information from central government departments about local authority projects which OGC records showed had received central government financial support. Less information was available on these projects: we received 23 responses, a response rate of 31 per cent.
3. The survey was designed to address the PAC's request that we carry out a further analysis of the extent to which PFI contracts allow departments to share in refinancing gains.18 It also sought to ascertain the extent of refinancing activity to date and to follow up other issues raised in the earlier NAO and PAC reports on the Fazakerley prison refinancing. A summary of the questions asked in the survey is set out in Appendix 2.
4. We discussed the results of our survey with the OGC and with PUK and with the Treasury Private Finance Unit, who had advised the OGC on refinancing issues. We also sought views from a number of private sector bodies about the Government's approach to the refinancing of PFI projects. The CBI, the Major Contractors Group, the Business Services Association and the PPP Forum were amongst those who provided comments.
5. We reviewed guidance on refinancing that had been produced by the OGC since our report on the Fazakerley prison refinancing.
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18 The previous analysis was set out in Appendix 3 of the PAC report on the Fazakerley prison refinancing. It summarised replies to Parliamentary Questions tabled by The Rt Hon Alan Williams MP on the extent to which departments' PFI contracts had arrangements to claw back refinancing gains and whether the contracts had been refinanced. The key results of this previous analysis are set out in Appendix 3 of this report.