22,706 research outputs found
Satisfaction with the NHS has dropped 12% since 2010 and the government’s rhetoric is largely to blame
No full textMark Hellowell argues that the government’s own rhetoric during late 2010 and 2011 may be responsible, at least partly, for the precipitous decline in satisfaction with the NHS
The move from PFI to PF2 is likely to make it more, rather than less, expensive to deliver new healthcare facilities in the future
No full textWhat impact the introduction of ‘Private Finance 2’ (PF2) have on the cost of projects for the public authorities that use it? Mark Hellowell is the author of a new report which looks into how PF2 will affect the healthcare sector. He writes that, far from avoiding the ‘PFI mess’ ascribed to its predecessors, the government is taking a route that may lead to another
The Non-Incremental Road to Disaster? A Comparative Policy Analysis of Agency Problems in the Commissioning of Infrastructure Projects in the UK and Italy
Full text linkTheoretical research on public–private partnerships has emphasised their ability to address agency problems in infrastructure projects. Despite this, there is a substantial body of empirical research which documents the tendency of such projects to create budgetary problems for the state authorities involved. This article seeks to explore how and why these problems occur through case studies of PPP hospital projects in England and Italy. It shows how features of the PPP approach encourage and facilitate strategic behaviour by state employees during financial appraisals, and provides evidence that this has undermined the quality of investment decisions and given rise to contractual structures which have failed to minimise the long-run costs to the government. It hypothesises that the PPP approach encourages the commissioning of unaffordable projects, and suggests that future research should focus on the financial appraisal process to identify the political and organisational pressures that are particularly salient in this process and to further evaluate the outcomes.</p
Private financing for public infrastructure is here to stay despite “PFIs” being consigned to history
No full textGeorge Osborne has recently outlined new thinking on private financing for major public service projects. Widely criticised as saddling public bodies with long-term debts, the Private Finance Initiative funding model has been used extensively since the 1990s. Mark Hellowell examines whether the Chancellor’s speech outlines a strategic shift or is more semantic
Meeting the demand for care will mean ensuring the private sector health market is fit for competition
No full textAs the National Health Service struggles to meet the country’s hospital care needs, the future may lie in the hands of the private sector. However, Mark Hellowell argues that serious market reforms are to be made to guarantee private acute care is fit for the task
Return of the state? An appraisal of policies to enhance access to credit for infrastructure-based PPPs
No full textThe global financial crisis had a major impact on the cost and availability of finance for infrastructure-based public–private partnerships (PPPs). In response, policymakers have introduced models of ‘credit-enhancement’ that aim to reduce the risk faced by private investors and attract additional capital into the market. Other policies involve hybrid structures in which public capital substitutes for private finance. The emergence of capital constraints in recent years has resulted from increased sensitivity among investors to liquidity risks and capital adequacy regulations, rather than credit risks. Models of credit-enhancement therefore fail to target the source of the problem
directly and distort incentive structures. Given liquid and efficient markets for government debt, the authors conclude that a policy in which the provision of public finance is combined with enhanced risk-bearing by private financiers is likely to be
optimal
Non-Profit Distribution:The Scottish Approach to Private Finance in Public Services
No full textThis article provides an analysis of the Scottish Government's approach to the use of private finance in public services. It examines the budgetary drivers behind the policy in Scotland and assesses its cost-efficiency. In doing so, it considers first the standard private finance initiative (PFI) model, and then turns to the ‘non-profit distributing’ (NPD) model – a variant of PFI developed in Scotland and one that is, at the time of writing, unique to the country. It concludes that, while NPD provides the Government with an important political benefit, in being seen to safeguard the ‘public interest’ while working within UK-wide budgetary constraints, the decision to continue with private finance carries a high economic cost
Issues and Trends in Project Finance for Public Infrastructure
No full textIn the last decades, many governments across the world have sought to use public private partnerships (PPP) as a means of attracting private capital to build economic and social infrastructure. Increasingly, PPPs have strong interest groups support, especially among a new range of investors, such as pension funds, life insurance companies and sovereign wealth funds; however, some policy instru- ments remain an indispensable element to attract these alternative risk-adverse long-term investors in the infrastructure sector. This chapter reviews the policy actions used by governments to enhance the viability of PPP contracts and shows how economic and financial equilibrium can be established. Crucial to the latter is the expected cost of the equity and the chapter outlines a range of approaches that can be used to estimate this
Government policies to enhance access to credit for infrastructure-based PPPs:an approach to classification and appraisal
Full text linkGovernments across the world have introduced a variety of instruments to enhance private investors’ appetites for public–private partnership (PPP) projects. The use of such instruments has become a core component of development and growth policies, for example by the EU as part of the Junker Plan. This paper provides a comprehensive categorization of these instruments, the risks they target and their effects, at both the project and system level, to support policy-makers to design the most appropriate instruments to attract private capital into infrastructure development
- …
