7.6.1 The second part of Remit Item 1 asks the question if this financing method had an effect on the quality of construction.
7.6.2 In this question, there is an implication that there might have been a direct relationship between the method of financing and the poor quality of construction that was discovered in the exterior walls of the schools.
7.6.3 It is the view of this Inquiry that the financing method per se did not have such a direct relationship with the presence of defective aspects of the construction in the Edinburgh schools. There is no reason why properly managed privately financed public sector buildings, using best practice approaches, should not be capable of delivering buildings constructed to a very high standard.
7.6.4 The Inquiry is concerned however that some elements of best practice associated with more traditional models of procurement failed to be consistently incorporated into the implementation of PPP projects.
7.6.5 Remit Item 3 asks this Inquiry to establish the reasons(s) for, and necessity of, the school closures, including a review of the reasons for the Oxgangs Primary School wall collapse. This will be dealt with in full in Section 9 of this Report.
7.6.6 Unfortunately, the findings of the Inquiry will show that there were multiple factors which contributed to the defective construction of the wall in question and of the walls to all the schools. These factors included the nature of the organisation, governance and incentives of the approach to the delivery of the scheme.
7.6.7 So, while the financing method, in itself, is not to blame, it is the view of the Inquiry that aspects of the way in which the PPP methodology was implemented on these projects, in common with many other PPP projects, in terms of how it addressed the design and construction processes, did increase the risk of poor quality design and construction.
7.6.8 The Inquiry is of the view, the reasons for which will be expanded on later in the Report, that a fundamental weakness of the process adopted was the lack of properly resourced and structured independent scrutiny of the construction and an over-reliance on the part of the City of Edinburgh Council, without adequate evidence, that others in the project structure would comprehensively fulfil this essential role.