El Robbo Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 The Government has announced that they are going to...err...give out Public money to ensure that Private Finance Initiatives are able to keep going http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7920522.stm So to get this straight, we are putting up the money for the projects in order to allow these private companies to keep on making a profit in the future. Surely that's just an insane use of public money? Add to this little asides like the fact that HBOS (now publicly owned) has £6 billion of PFI debt on it's books and I think it's becoming clear that it will be back to business as usual once the financial crisis is over despite the fact the public will be paying the price for the next couple of decades Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildcat Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 It is what they have been doing with railtrack since day one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeaFan Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 There are no limits to the amounts of public money that this or any Tory or Lib Dem government will hand over to the corporate sector. And people get worked up about migrants! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Br8inend Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 Its a bit sad , its very sad. Did anyone vote for brown never mind blair. A scottish man leading our parliament. Free tuition fees scotland not in england. Scots can study in england for free. Scots free prescriptions england no. do elderly scots have to sell their house's for care,no. England yes. The chancellor who set on the chairman of hbos to run the fsa. Who advised gordon on the bailouts. This goodwin pension polarva is to take the the heat off gordon and his pal. Will someone phone the police! Pfi started when the politicians realised the public are working too hard to give a hoot. Then they put the price of bear up, ban smoking so the normal folk can't discuss the real issues. And bobs your uncle. thats what mick says anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Robbo Posted March 4, 2009 Author Share Posted March 4, 2009 Its a bit sad , its very sad. Did anyone vote for brown never mind blair. A scottish man leading our parliament. Free tuition fees scotland not in england. Scots can study in england for free. Scots free prescriptions england no. do elderly scots have to sell their house's for care,no. England yes. The chancellor who set on the chairman of hbos to run the fsa. Who advised gordon on the bailouts. This goodwin pension polarva is to take the the heat off gordon and his pal. Will someone phone the police! Pfi started when the politicians realised the public are working too hard to give a hoot. Then they put the price of bear up, ban smoking so the normal folk can't discuss the real issues. And bobs your uncle. thats what mick says anyway. I'm not sure what all the references to Scots are for The devolved policies are nowt to do with Brown - it's a SNP Govt in Scotland, previously a lib/lab coalition. Are you suggesting we need a devolved English or Regional parliaments (we as in people like myself - a Scottish immigrant - who live in England)? I was gutted too when the price of Bear went up - I started eating dogs instead, which are the same mammal family Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Br8inend Posted March 4, 2009 Share Posted March 4, 2009 I'm not sure what all the references to Scots are for The devolved policies are nowt to do with Brown - it's a SNP Govt in Scotland, previously a lib/lab coalition. Are you suggesting we need a devolved English or Regional parliaments (we as in people like myself - a Scottish immigrant - who live in England)? I was gutted too when the price of Bear went up - I started eating dogs instead, which are the same mammal family I thought youd prefer to eat the female kind but there you go. I don't do that kind of thing but if I did it would be my own specis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chalga Posted June 5, 2014 Share Posted June 5, 2014 There are no limits to the amounts of public money that this or any Tory or Lib Dem government will hand over to the corporate sector. And people get worked up about migrants! Good time to bring this back to life. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/exclusive-how-private-firms-make-quick-killing-from-pfi-9488351.html Companies that were awarded contracts to build and maintain state schools for 25 years have been doubling their money by “flipping”, or selling on, the Private Finance Initiative (PFIs) projects just four years after finishing them. The chair of the Commons Public Accounts Committee, Margaret Hodge, described the huge profits as “a total scandal” and said it meant “we have all been ripped off”. The Independent’s findings shine a new light on how private companies have made fortunes in pure profit from the rising value of the schools and hospitals they have built – value which critics say could have been retained by the taxpayer. University Hospital of North Durham was one of the first and most controversial to be built under PFI. Balfour Beatty’s Consort Healthcare PFI division contracted with the local NHS trust to design, build and run the hospital for 30 years under a trailblazing contract signed in 1998. It replaced the local Dryburn hospital in 2001 and was described by the trust chairman Kevin Earley as “an absolutely huge leap in healthcare”. But the leap seemed to go backwards – after 14 weeks, the hospital was short of 54 beds. Unison, a union, claimed patients were kept waiting for up to 12 hours in A&E because of staff shortages. Despite its mixed local reputation, University Hospital of North Durham managed to earn Balfour Beatty £51m this week in probably its most successful PFI “flip” to date. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zamo Posted June 5, 2014 Share Posted June 5, 2014 There are no limits to the amounts of public money that this or any Tory or Lib Dem government will hand over to the corporate sector. And people get worked up about migrants! I think you'll find that PFI was Labour's baby. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alchresearch Posted June 5, 2014 Share Posted June 5, 2014 Good time to bring this back to life. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/exclusive-how-private-firms-make-quick-killing-from-pfi-9488351.html Companies that were awarded contracts to build and maintain state schools for 25 years have been doubling their money by “flipping”, or selling on, the Private Finance Initiative (PFIs) projects just four years after finishing them. I've been in some of these new schools, and some of them are in a terrible state after just a few years. Some of the new technology that was installed is never used because the staff just don't have the time or energy to dedicate to them. And I've mentioned the ballooning heating and cooling costs before from the change of traditional classrooms to huge open spaces and lots of glass. The article does acknowledge the failings a little: The Labour MP acknowledged that many of the worst PFI and PPP cases were negotiated by the Labour government under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, saying: “I’m afraid we got it wrong. I was a supporter at the time but I have completely gone off the whole concept. We got seduced by PFI.” If only they'd listened more to the people in place, like the consultant who tried to convince a school that if they went down the BSF route there would be an iPad for every student and teacher without any evidence of them enhancing teaching and learning, or any thought to after-sales issues of loss, damage and theft. I think one school had 30% damaged, which wasn't covered by any warranty or insurance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L00b Posted June 5, 2014 Share Posted June 5, 2014 If only they'd listened more to the people in place, like the consultant who tried to convince a school that if they went down the BSF route there would be an iPad for every student and teacher without any evidence of them enhancing teaching and learning, or any thought to after-sales issues of loss, damage and theft. I think one school had 30% damaged, which wasn't covered by any warranty or insurance. Reminds me of people who 'release equity' in their homes to buy ultrafast-depreciating gadgets and vehicles. I'd be the Tory Gvt and in need of a popularity boost, I'd tear up the PFIs there and then and re-nationalise the PFI'd lot in the name of reimbursing Labour's bank bail-out Preferably, legally with some horseplay in the Commons. If not, then hey-ho, let the small army of corpo lawyers do their worst (and let Labour, who will probably be at the helm by that time, carry that can when the breach-of-contract and damages ruling eventually comes out...fair's fair, and all is fair in love and war ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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