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Date: Tuesday 9 Sept 2008
SFT is a costly and unnecessary new quango with staff on six figure
salaries
UNISON Scotland will tomorrow warn MSPs that the Scottish Futures
Trust (SFT) will be an unnecessary and costly new quango, promoting
PFI/PPP policies and employing staff on six figure salaries.
Scottish Organiser Dave Watson will tell the Scottish Parliament's
Finance Committee that the SFT proposal has been turned from a simple
idea (for Scottish Government Bonds) into a complex one, losing
the original purpose and instead pursuing largely the same PFI/PPP
policies.
Giving evidence to the Committee's ongoing inquiry into the funding
of public capital investment projects, he will point out that the
SFT's continuation of the hub PPP initiative is a Trojan horse for
introducing parts of the English public sector model here.
Dave will say "Ministers are establishing a new quango with most
of its important work barely sketched out in this Strategic Business
Case. "It has allocated initial payroll costs of £1 million for
six or seven staff. "UNISON research (click
here) has shown that PFI/PPP is wasting billions of pounds of
taxpayers money. The SFT originally was supposed to tackle this
waste but the current plans simply set up a new quango to deliver
more of the same.”
ENDS
For Further Information Please Contact: Dave Watson (Scottish
organiser - Policy) 07958 122 409 (m) Fiona Montgomery/Malcolm Burns
(Information Development Officers) 0141 342 2852/2811
Notes for editors
Dave Watson will give evidence to the Committee at 2pm on Tuesday
9 Sept. He is taking part in a round table discussion involving
several witnesses. UNISON's summary evidence to the Finance Committee
for the 9 Sept meeting is available from Fiona Montgomery on Tues
am (0141 342 2852 or at f.montgomery@unison.co.uk ) It is also now
(Mon 9 Sep) on the Cttee website at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/s3/committees/finance/papers-08/fip08-19.pdf
UNISON also provided evidence to the Finance Committee in May. This
is at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/s3/committees/finance/papers-08/fip08-13.pdf
The main evidence submitted in Dec 2007 to the Finance Committee's
Inquiry is at: http://www.unison-scotland.org.uk/response/capitalinvest.html
UNISON's submission to the Scottish Government consultation on
the Scottish Futures Trust is at: http://www.unison-scotland.org.uk/response/sftresponsemarch08.html
* 'At What Cost' is on the UNISON Scotland website at: http://www.unison-scotland.org.uk/comms/atwhatcostoct07.pdf
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