UK Inquiry Tracker

Government’s use of private finance for infrastructure

Public Accounts Committee Closed Inquiry

Opened: 26 Mar 2025 Closed: 22 Sep 2025 Parliament page

The Government has identified infrastructure investment, delivered in partnership with the private sector, as central to growing the economy. The Chancellor of the Exchequer announced in October 2024 that the Government would increase public sector net investment (PSNI) to 2.6% of GDP during the Parliament, with over £100bn of additional … Read more The Government has identified infrastructure investment, delivered in partnership with the private sector, as central to growing the economy. The Chancellor of the Exchequer announced in October 2024 that the Government would increase public sector net investment (PSNI) to 2.6% of GDP during the Parliament, with over £100bn of additional capital invested over the next five years. There is a wide range of private financing models including the extensively used Private Finance Initiative (PFI). Sources of private finance for the initial capital investment include institutional investors (such as banks and pension funds) provided in the form of debt and equity or related financial instruments. In a 2018 report on PFI, the PAC found that PFI was not working for the taxpayer, with various projects’ owners increasingly remote from the public service being delivered, and offshore owners of these projects paying little tax, thereby reducing one of the benefits used to justify the contracts in the first place. In 2025, the National Audit Office (NAO) has set out lessons from its past reports on Government’s use of private finance for the delivery of infrastructure assets. Based on the NAO report, the PAC will hear from senior officials from HM Treasury and the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) on subjects including costs, benefits, risks and opportunities of the approach, as well as preparation for the increasing number of PFI contracts set to expire over the next decade. If you have evidence on these issues please submit it here by 23:59 on Monday 28 April 2025. Please look at the requirements for written evidence submissions and note that the Committee cannot accept material as evidence that is published elsewhere. Please note that the Committee’s inquiry cannot assist with individual cases. If you need help with an individual problem you are having, you may wish to read the information on Parliament’s website about who you can contact with different issues . Show less

14 Recommendations

16 Conclusions

1 Report

1 Oral session

1 Letter

1 Event

Activity timeline 5 events

15 Oct
2025

Report published

Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Thirty-ninth report from Session 2024-26

11 Jul
2025

Report published

39th Report - Government’s use of private finance for infrastructure

5 Jun
2025

Correspondence

Letter from the Permanent Secretary of the HM Treasury relating to the follow up on the oral evidence session held on 12 May 2025 on Govern…

12 May
2025

Oral evidence

Oral evidence session

12 May
2025

Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · The Grimond Room, Portcullis House

Committee event

Oral evidence sessions 1 session

12 May 2025

View on parliament.uk

Bruce Dalgleish · P2G LLP Conrad Smewing · HM Treasury Darryl Murphy · Aviva Investors David Lunn · Department of Business and Trade James Bowler CB · HM Treasury Jean-Christophe Gray · NISTA Matthew Vickerstaff · NISTA

Reports 1 report · click to expand

Title	HC No.	Published	Items	Response
39th Report - Government’s use of private finance for infrastruc…	HC 821	11 Jul 2025	30	Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

4 results

11 Recommendation Not Addressed

39th Report - Government’s use of …

Government does not routinely evaluate completed infrastructure projects to assess their success

Though government attempts to determine the success of a project through measures such as cost-benefit analysis, they do not routinely evaluate completed projects.19 The UK has used a variety of private financing models to deliver new infrastructure, including but not … Read more

Government Response

The government's response describes its existing pre-project appraisal process using the Green Book to identify the preferred financing model, but does not commit to or address the recommendation for routinely evaluating completed projects post-implementation.

HM Treasury

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12 Recommendation Not Addressed

39th Report - Government’s use of …

Government activity and private financing models lack robust evaluation frameworks

The National Audit Office’s (NAO) report on evaluating government spending highlighted that much of government’s activity is either not evaluated robustly or not evaluated at all, despite the government’s commitment to evidence-based decision-making.22 In addition, there 17 C&AG’s Report, para … Read more

Government Response

The government's response describes its existing pre-project appraisal process using the Green Book to ensure value for money, but does not commit to or address the recommendation for robust post-project evaluation or comparative assessments of financing models.

HM Treasury

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13 Conclusion Not Addressed

39th Report - Government’s use of …

Significant proportion of major government projects still lack an evaluation plan

The Treasury told us that the proportion of major projects that have been evaluated has improved since the NAO’s evaluation report. After our evidence session, the Treasury wrote to us and stated that 68% of infrastructure and construction of major … Read more

Government Response

The government states the recommendation is implemented, but its response focuses on the Green Book appraisal process for selecting financing models, not directly addressing the committee's concern about the proportion of major projects lacking high-quality evaluation plans.

HM Treasury

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15 Conclusion Not Addressed

39th Report - Government’s use of …

Most private finance contracts lack central monitoring, undermining effective management and value

The overall value and number of infrastructure projects delivered using private financing models is significant, for example, on the Regulated Asset Base model, a combined £9 billion was invested in Thames Tideway Tunnel and Heathrow Terminal 5.28 In addition, the … Read more

Government Response

The government states the recommendation is implemented, but its response focuses on the Green Book appraisal process for selecting financing models, not addressing the lack of central monitoring or digitised contracts for non-PFI private finance projects.

HM Treasury

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Government Response AI assessment · 30 of 14 classified

Accepted 24

Accepted in Part 1

Deferred 1

Not Addressed 4

Total 14 recs + 16 conclusions

Correspondence 1 letter

5 Jun 2025 To committee Letter from the Permanent Secretary of the HM Treasury relating to the follow up on the oral evidence session held on 12 May 2025 on Government’s use of private finance for infrastructure, 27 May 2025

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