星空传媒

I was surprised to read in your 13 June issue that an NHS LIFT model was imminent for housing PFI (page 7). The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has no immediate plans to introduce such a model.

I was also disappointed to read in your 6 June magazine that the door had been "slammed" on a PFI funding change that would "have made the process more affordable to local authorities" (page 13).

Throughout the pathfinder procurement period, the ODPM has been working with authorities (and the 4Ps) to streamline the process and ensure it is affordable. Much has been achieved over the past year. The first pathfinder contracts were signed in March, and credit should go to all those involved.

We are also in the middle of consulting on new arrangements for subsidy delivery for housing revenue account PFI projects. Our main priority is to ensure there is a better match between subsidy support and the authorities' capital costs.

We are not consulting on changes to the calculation of the PFI credit, as we do not believe any of the alternative approaches would be an improvement. However, we are in the process of refining the way PFI projects are evaluated to better reflect the project costs, in liaison with 4Ps and others, as is our usual practice.