Mr. Andrew McDowell:

There is a history of bad PPP projects but there have also been traditionally bad Exchequer-financed projects and, therefore, it is not like there is a best way of doing these. Every project needs to be looked at on its own merits. We host the European PPP Expertise Centre but that does not make us a proponent of PPPs. Promoters from governments across Europe come to us saying, "We think it is a great idea to do a big investment in our IT systems as a PPP because that gets it off the balance sheet". We say they are nuts and that is a bad idea because the technology will change in two years' time. They will have to ask the private promoter to change the specification of the PPP and consequently will face a significant escalation in the cost they cannot manage. We tell them not to do it through a PPP but through traditional Exchequer investment because they will be able to control it much better.

On the other hand, there are areas, which are much more standardised in infrastructure investment. Road projects are a reasonably good example of a standardised, commoditised project and the specification, parameters and technologies are clear from the outset and are unlikely to change. In those situations-----