Dave Thompson MSP

Highlands and Islands SNP MSP, Dave Thompson has submitted a Freedom of Information request to Highland Council in an attempt to discover the truth behind the councils’ higher than expected PPP rates bill.

Last week figures were released which showed that Highland Council’s PPP debt is set to rocket to over £25 million per year. The shocking news was contained in figures released by the Scottish government which showed that the council will have to pay £25.2 million to private investors in 2010 -2011 and £25.6 million in 2011-2012. The payment for 2009 – 2010 is £24.5 million.

The latest shocking PPP revelation came on top of the previous week’s news that Highland Council has incurred an overspend of £1 million this year because the council budgeted too little for rates for PPP schools, apparently after following the advice of a private consultant.

Commenting Dave said’ I am determined to get to the bottom of this scandal. The people of the Highlands have a right to know what advice the council was given before signing up to PPP. I have, therefore, lodged a Freedom of Information request to find out just what advice was given and how much influence Council officials had in providing what appear to be over optimistic estimates of PPP costs, so that PPP looked better value than it was.

The Lib Dems and Labour’s financially irresponsible PPP funding has saddled Highland Council with enormous debts. Debts that will simply lead to more services being cut; services, which people in the Highlands rely on and can ill afford to lose. The public are paying the price for this and the public have a right to know the truth.’