Scots Schools Swindled by Toxic PFI Legacy

Aberdeenshire Council Spends 5% of School Budget
Paying PFI Debts
Schools across Aberdeenshire continue to count the cost of a toxic PFI legacy started by the Tories – which will see the local authority spend 5% of their school budget.

New research into the toxic PFI legacy which continues to plague Scotland’s public finances shows that of the total spend on schools across Aberdeenshire this year, 5% of that money will be used paying off debts from the discredited funding scheme.

The analysis by independent researchers in the Scottish Parliament Library has found that PFI unitary charges for Scotland’s schools in 2018/19 are estimated to be £434.3 million – a significant amount of Scottish schools’ total resource budget of £5.159 billion.

Commenting, Banffshire and Buchan Coast MSP Stewart Stevenson said:

“A toxic PFI legacy means the public purse is still paying heavily over the odds servicing decade old debts.

“Money that councils could use to pay for teachers, books and facilities is being used by councils forced to pay for the Tory obsession with bringing privatisation and private profit to our education system.

“Thanks to this shameful legacy, the reality is we are going to be saddled with this bill for years come.”