12 October 2007
The Scottish government plans to fund an increasing number of public sector projects through a bond issue scheme instead of the Private Finance Initiative, Finance Secretary John Swinney told MSPs.
Giving evidence to the Scottish Parliament transport committee, Swinney was pressed to state what proportion of transport projects would be funded through the Scottish Futures Trust, a public bond scheme. He was also asked whether public-private partnerships and other funding methods would also be used.
Swinney replied: 'A growing proportion of our projects will be funded through the Scottish Futures Trust mechanism, because we envisage that to be an efficient and affordable method of funding some of our capital projects.'
He pointed out that the scheme would apply not only to transport but across a range of government programmes, including schools, waste management, water infrastructure and prison projects.
Swinney indicated that projects that had started their life as PPPs and were at an advanced stage would continue under that scheme if they would be adversely affected by a change to their funding.
But he added: 'Our full expectation would be that the Scottish Futures Trust will be a mechanism that would be very competitive in the market place and, as a consequence, would attract the lion's share of investment.'
PFoct2007
