Public sector stakeholders

1.8  Public sector stakeholders are spread across different levels of government, from central government departments to local bodies such as local authorities or NHS trusts. The key types of parties involved are:

•  Authority: This is the public sector organisation which has entered into the original PFI contract. It is responsible for managing the contract throughout the contractual term, including the expiry process. The authority can be a central government department or a local body such as a local authority or NHS trust. We estimate that 82% of all PFI contracts are managed at a local level (Figure 3 overleaf).

•  Sponsor departments: When initially set up, each PFI contract had a central government sponsor department which supported the contracting authority. Ongoing engagement by departments with authorities varies depending on the number, type, and complexity of the contracts. In general, departments will provide an advisory role to authorities. Figure 8 on pages 22 to 24 summarises the type of support activities provided by the main departments.

•  Supporting public bodies: There are multiple public bodies that play a supporting role in managing PFI contracts, the main ones being the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) and Local Partnerships:

•  The IPA is central government's centre of expertise for infrastructure and major projects, and it reports to the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury. It provides advice and support to departments and local authorities and is responsible for PFI operational matters such as commercial and delivery. The IPA also maintains a publicly available database of all the operational PFI contracts.

•  Local Partnerships is a joint venture between HM Treasury, the Local Government Association and the Welsh Government which provides commercial support and delivery expertise to the public sector. Local Partnerships has a dedicated team of PFI specialists who provide support to contracts across the full range of financial, technical and legal specialisms.

•  HM Treasury: This is the central government department responsible for PFI policy and fiscal decisions. The strategy on PFI is co-owned alongside the IPA.