£1bn bill to pay for jail
25-year cost of Addiewell Prison
The total cost of running Addiewell Prison has been revealed as almost £1billion.
The bill for the jail, built under the controversial private finance initiative (PFI) in 2006, was revealed after a parliamentary question by SNP MSP Fulton MacGregor. Scottish Prison Service chief executive Colin McConnell revealed the estimated cost of the 25- year contract with Sodexo Justice Services will be £ 955million. Under PFI schemes, private firms got contracts to construct and maintain public buildings, usually for 30 years, in return for an annual “unitary charge” that covered the initial capital spend and ongoing running costs. That system was dropped in 2007 but the contract with Sodexo still stands and means the bill represents a cost of 12 times the amount it took to build the prison.
Almond Valley MSP Angela Constance said: “It’s no secret that I and the SNP have consistently opposed PFI contracts, brought in under the previous Labour and Liberal administration.
“It’s a scandal that the tax payer has had to pay nearly £1billion, 12 times the cost to build the prison. As the constituency MSP, I support the work of the prison and, in particular, the prison staff. As a former prison-based social worker, I know the difficult and, at times, dangerous job that prison officers do on behalf of the wider community.”
Lothian MSP Neil Findlay said: “This is yet another example of poor value for the taxpayer. Private companies have been and are being contracted to provide essential public goods and services.
“All Scottish Governments since 1999 have used a version of PFI – I have been calling for a review of all the Public Private Partnerships including PFI, NPD and Hub contracts and projects, used by all Scottish Governments to ensure that the public are getting the best deal and our public services have the resources that they need and the services they expect.”
Across Scotland, the bill for privately built and managed public projects will climb above £36billion.