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Long-term planning for investment in UK infrastructure is being held back by the absence of a credible project pipeline, according to the public accounts committee.

The parliamentary committee published its report on the government鈥檚 use of private finance this morning, which warned that the historic lack of detailed information on upcoming schemes has made skills shortages worse.

The report found that the National Infrastructure and Construction Pipeline, which is supposed to lay out infrastructure plans for the coming years, had not been effective. The pipeline went unpublished in 2019, 2020 and 2022, and due to gaps in data, pipelines were not comparable between years.

Committee chair Geoffrey Clifton-Brown said: 鈥淚t is a truism that any investor places a high premium on reliable information, without which it is hard to proceed.

鈥淥f particular importance are accuracy and certainty of contract specifications at the outset, and relative certainty that the government won鈥檛 change the contract specification at a later date.

鈥淥ur scrutiny has found a woefully obscured picture for any seeking to invest in big infrastructure projects in the UK, with a corresponding drain of skills overseas.

鈥淲ithout a long-term, consistent pipeline giving an idea of what to expect in years to come, UK infrastructure risks becoming stony ground for any investor.鈥�

The committee also made observations about private finance initiatives (PFI), warning of a misplaced belief that risk transfer to the private sector means it will be managed by the private sector, noting examples such as Carillion where the private sector鈥檚 failure to manage risk had a negative effect for the public sector.

It called for a centrally-developed toolkit for public bodies in the management of risk for infrastructure projects.

Public bodies are set to pay 拢136bn in charges up until 2052/53 for the 665 PFI contracts that are still ongoing. Half of these are set to expire in the next decade.

The committee also called for a central database to be published covering private finance for public infrastructure, which it said would help the government spot themes and patterns in using private finance for infrastructure, and deliver value for money.

James Corrigan UK managing director for infrastructure at Turner & Townsend, said the report 鈥渁ligns with the views of many of us across the infrastructure and construction sectors鈥�, articulating the need for confidence that the pipeline 鈥渨on鈥檛 be impacted by changing political cycles鈥� and that there is a 鈥渃oordinated approach between public bodies and private organisations to scale up the capacity and skills needed to deliver鈥�.

He said it was a 鈥渄elicate balance鈥� and expressed hope that the report would 鈥減rovide further drive for industry to work together to build the certainty and trust we need鈥�.

鈥淭he positive recent announcements from government have gone some way towards that - from the creation of NISTA to the infrastructure strategy, and openness to new forms of public private partnership,鈥� he added.