HM Treasury News Release 84/96 26 May 1996 __________________________________________________________________ NEW CHAIRMAN OF PRIVATE FINANCE PANEL Financial Secretary Michael Jack today announced the appointment of a new chief opportunity seeker and trouble shooter for the Private Finance Initiative. Welcoming the appointment of Alastair Ross Goobey as the new chairman of the Private Finance Panel (an independent body set up by the Treasury to promote PFI) Mr Jack said: "The Private Finance Initiative is enabling the talents of the private sector to be used in new ways to provide vital services to the public. It has broken the mould that said such work was the exclusive preserve of the public sector. The Private Finance Panel, with its valuable pool of real world expertise and experience, is proving to be a powerful tool in achieving this objective." "We want to see the Private Finance Initiative flourish and grow from a total of 6,000 million pounds of deals agreed so far. This will mean seeking out new areas that can benefit from an injection of private finance, private sector resource management expertise and private sector service delivery skills. It will also mean continuing to find solutions to problems which may still be inhibiting progress." "Now that the Private Finance Initiative is becoming an established method of buying services for the public, we need to keep up the momentum and continue our drive for more efficient and better value public services. In Alastair Ross Goobey, I believe we have the right man with the right schemes to help steer the Private Finance Initiative into this ongoing new phase and up towards our target of at least 14,000 million pounds of deals agreed by 1998/9." Responding to his appointment by the Treasury, Mr Ross Goobey said: "I am delighted to be following in the pioneering wake of my predecessors, Sir Alastair Morton and Sir Christopher Bland. Now that the flow of agreed projects is accelerating, I see my role as: - helping to remove the remaining barriers to progress; - keeping government departments and agencies up to speed; - maintaining a lively dialogue between industry, officials and politicians. "There is no doubt that PFI can and will provide high quality public services at a lower cost to the taxpayer. It is up to us to get out there and prove it to the widest audience." PRESS OFFICE HM TREASURY PARLIAMENT STREET LONDON SWIP 3AG 0171 270 5238 Notes to Editors 1. Alastair Ross Goobey takes over the chairmanship on 1 June. He is already a member of the Private Finance Panel and is replacing Sir Christopher Bland who is stepping down following his appointment as Chairman of the BBC. 2. Alastair Ross Goobey was born in 1945. After graduating in economics from Cambridge, he joined Kleinwort Benson. His career in the City has included Investment Manager for Courtaulds Pension Fund and Chief Investment Strategist for James Capel. In 1993, he became Chief Executive and Chief Investment Officer for Hermes Pension Management. He is also a non-executive director of Cheltenham and Gloucester Plc, a member of the City Promotion Panel and President of the Investment Property Forum. He has served as a member of the Goode Committee on pensions law and has been on the board of Scottish Life. A former Special Adviser at the Treasury to Chancellors Lawson and Lamont, he stood in 1979 as the Conservative candidate for West Leicester. His book on investment management, The Money Moguls, was published in 1986. Bricks and Mortals, his history of the commercial property market was published in 1992. 3. The Terms of Reference of the Private Finance Panel are attached. The Panel is an independent company supported by grant in aid, 2.5 million pounds in 1996/7, from HM Treasury. They can be contacted on 0171 222 2866. 4. The Private Finance Initiative means that the public sector will concentrate on buying high quality services for the public rather than owning projects. On projects like hospitals, bridges, prisons and computer systems the government wants to see private sector providers design, build, finance and operate high quality facilities for public use. The services remain public, but the projects are financed and managed to make the most of efficient private sector delivery skills. PRIVATE FINANCE PANEL TERMS OF REFERENCE To promote the introduction of private management and finance into areas of capital investment and services traditionally undertaken by the public sector by: - promoting a wider understanding of the principles of the government`s Private Finance Initiative; - ensuring that private sector investors understand what the Initiative is intended to achieve and how it works; - identifying areas of activity where it may be possible to make significant further progress straightaway; - helping departments to use the initiative to provide more and better services on the basis of the public expenditure provision available to them; - encouraging actual and potential managers and providers of public services to identify and promote possible projects; - making proposals for the development of good practice in the selection of participants by the public sector and in its management of contracts; - encouraging potential private sector participants in the initiative; - suggesting solutions to possible problems in carrying the initiative forward to achieve the Chancellor`s aim of improving both the quality and the quantity of the nation`s capital stock. The Panel is interested in receiving views from all companies or individuals with an interest in the Private Finance Initiative.