SSP Research, Policy & Media Unit
Press Release: 06/09/05

Scottish Socialist Party MSP for South Scotland Rosemary Byrne today hit out at Jack McConnell over his pledge during the Scottish Parliament debate on the legislative programme that the Scottish Executive would deliver the “'biggest school investment programme for over a century.'
McConnell made his remarks on the same day that Edinburgh City Council announced that a corruption scandal involving its £550 million Public Private Partnership scheme to rebuild eight city schools would mean a delay of at least a year in the much needed school building programme.
Rosemary has repeatedly spoken out against PPP school building schemes, saying that private firms should not be allowed to profit from public services and that educational interests of school children are not being served.

Rosemary said;
“When is the Executive going to accept that PPP schemes are not only expensive but also lend themselves to corruption, quite apart from not providing real community facilities.
“PPP projects are repeatedly being exposed as unworkable and undemocratic and yet the Scottish Executive is not prepared to face up to the truth.
“There are massive profits in PPP schemes for private companies but they are worse than useless to the local communities who receive substandard facilities in return.
“It is time for the Executive to end Public Private Partnership’s once and for all and to return to the use of public money to fund public services.”
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