Treasury silent on private finance change
The government has refused to say whether IFRS will bring PFI projects onto its balance sheet
Responding to claims from Tory shadow London minister Jacqui Lait, chief
secretary to the Treasury Stephen Timms claimed it was ‘too early to say what an
International Financial Reporting Standard, once introduced, will mean on a
deal-by-deal basis for each PFI project.’
Timms said: ‘There is as yet no EU-adopted IFRS standard setting out how the
public sector elements of PFI projects should be reported.’
Lait said: ‘This answer from the
Treasury is the
usual evasion one has come to expect from the chancellor. The impact of the
total costs of PFI to the government’s balance sheets will have significant
adverse effects,’ she added.