A number of reforms were introduced by the Coalition government of 2010-15 to address the issues with PFI:

•  The launch of the Operational PFI Savings Programme, a programme aiming to maximise efficiency savings from PFI projects. The Coalition government was looking to make savings of at least £1.5 billion, a figure which was exceeded by December 2012. (By June 2013, £1.6bn36 of savings had been reported by departments to HM Treasury). In March 2015, HM Treasury reported that the programme secured £2.1 billion in savings, and is seeking a further £2 billion in savings.37

•  The introduction of new arrangements to strengthen scrutiny and control of major projects and their approval, including the standardisation of documents

•  The introduction of a number of initiatives aiming to support infrastructure delivery, such as the UK Guarantee scheme

•  The introduction of a £70 billion control total, limiting the payments under future PFI and PF2 contracts over the five years from 2015-2016 onwards, allowing around £1 billion of new PF2 projects each year.38

The Coalition government, however, also acknowledged the need to address the limitations of PFIs and the concerns raised over the value for money component in particular. In 2011 the Coalition government undertook a call for evidence on the reform of PFI, and received 155 responses. These responses were used as evidence in the review of PFI.

A number of reforms of PFIs have been implemented already