1. Can you say whether the number of projects that are PFI projects is commercially confidential or not?
This is public information and is available via the signed deals list on HM Treasury's public website:
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/documents/public_private_partnerships/ppp_pfi_stats.cfm
2. Are the details of those that are on balance sheet commercially confidential?
The balance sheet treatment of PFI projects is not the determinant of whether the project's details are commercially confidential.
3. Is it commercially confidential whether a PFI project is on balance sheet?
This information is not commercially confidential.
4. Is the fact that a PFI project is off balance sheet commercially confidential or not?
This information is not commercially confidential.
5. Is the total amount of cash paid for each project by the authority concerned over the life of the project commercially confidential?
At an aggregate level this information is not commercially confidential, however departments may differ in their ability to provide detailed breakdowns of cash payments due to commercial confidentiality issues.
6. Is the total capital value commercially confidential?
This information is not commercially confidential.
7. Is the length of contract for each PFI project commercially confidential or not?
8. Is the inflation assumption that is used in the project commercially confidential?
9. Is the discount rate that is used in each project commercially confidential?
10. Is the net present value of each project commercially confidential?
11. Is the public sector comparator that is used for each project commercially confidential?
The Treasury does not collect this data centrally. However, it is possible that there may be commercial confidentiality issues that relate to the information listed.
12. The website signed project list says that the total capital value of the MoD main building is £345 million. The NAO's report says that it is £746 million. What is the basis of the figure for the total capital value that is used on the PFI signed project list?
Both figures are correct but refer to different measures of value. The total capital value as covered in the Treasury's signed deals list is defined as "the public sector procuring body's estimate of the capital value of the property the private sector purchases or creates for delivering services under a PFI contract."
The figure referenced in the NAO report Ministry of Defence: Redevelopment of MOD Main Building is not the capital value of the project. The £746 million figure refers to the net present value of the entire contract-effectively a total of the unitary charges of the project. Unitary charge data not only covers provisions for the redevelopment or construction of an asset but also provisions for factors such as inflation, other services provided and major refurbishments. As noted in the NAO report:
"In May 2000, MOD let a PFI contract with a net present value of £746 million (at 2000 price levels) to a consortium called Modus. The 30-year contract covered the redevelopment of Main Building and limited refurbishment and provision of support to other buildings needed to accommodate staff while redevelopment is undertaken, followed by the provision of maintenance and facilities management services at Main Building and the Old War Office until May 2030".
John Kingman
Managing Director, Public Services and Growth Directorate
HM Treasury