Taxpayer Is Paying Too Much For Repairs

A National Audit Office (NAO) report into £180m of changes made to operational PFI projects in 2006, has found that changes made to assets on projects after they have reached completion are often inefficient, particularly on minor works.Many of the subsequent findings were mainly in the healthcare and education sectors

The report exposed wide differences in costs charged for minor changes, with the cost of replacing an electrical socket veering between £30.81 and £302.20.The benchmark figure suggested by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors for installing an electrical socket is between £51 and £103.

The report also found that a lock could cost anything from £15.09 to £486.54, while the cost of cutting a key ranged from £4.26 to £47.48.The report also found that the Special Purpose Vehicle set up to deliver the PFI charges a typical 5-10% fee to carry out changes on top of the cost of the alteration. This is very often not justified as the work is carried out by subcontractors.

The NAO said that very often the local authorities involved had not got the best deal for taxpayers’ money.Edward Leigh, the chairman of the Commons Public Accounts Committee, which oversees the NAO, said that the public sector "has allowed itself to be taken for a ride" by managers with "insufficient commercial experience".