Scottish Futures Trust Established

Strathaven based MSP Linda Fabiani, has welcomed the establishment by the Scottish Government of the Scottish Futures Trust.

 
Sir Angus Grossart has been appointed chairman of the newly-established Scottish Futures Trust (SFT) company, which is being established to develop the expertise and investment models for a range of public infrastructure projects including new schools, hospitals and transport projects.

The Scottish Futures Trust is designed to reduce the costs to the public purse in a move away from the PFI and PPP model of funding which saw public sector projects costing hundreds of millions of pounds over the original building costs due to a contractual model that tied hospital and school projects into long term deals with contractors.

Ms Fabiani said:

“The SFT model will provide public sector projects on a Non Profit Distributing (NPD) model, designed to reduce financing costs and deliver greater impact from investment.

“We have seen the impact of PFI investment in East Kilbride with the new Hairmyres Hospital getting off to a troubled start in its early days due to problems with the building and disputes between staff and contractors. The public will also be paying in the region of £600million over the next 30 years for a building that originally cost about £67million. This is why we want to get away from this ridiculous model of funding.

“The Scottish Government will release up to £150 million each year for investment in Scotland’s public infrastructure with an infrastructure investment programme of some £35 billion over the next 10 years, and SFT will play a key role in delivering this”.