Has the NAO Audited Risk Transfer in Operational Private Finance Initiative Schemes?

The government's main justification for using private finance is that it provides value for money by transferring project risks to the private sector. However, of the 622 PFI deals signed by October 2007, the National Audit Office (NAO) has examined the relationship between risk transfer and risk premiums in only three. The government's justification for the policy is largely unevaluated and unscrutinized by Parliament, raising wider issues of public accountability for public expenditure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]