The PAC report on the Government's use of private finance warns badly managed PFI contracts are leading to poor quality assets being handed back to the public sector.

PAC chair Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP said: ‘Without a long-term, consistent pipeline giving an idea of what to expect in years to come, UK infrastructure risks becoming stony ground for any investor. Government must also move to make sure the right finance model is used for the right project and to support all public bodies in understanding how best to manage both the contracts themselves and the risk in taking them on.'

The report finds the lack of a credible pipeline has made it challenging for organisations across both the public and private sectors to attract, develop and retain skills in the infrastructure sector. It highlights the importance of identifying which financing models represent value for money for different types of project and calls for a central database to be published covering private finance for public infrastructure, which does not currently exist.

The 10-Year Infrastructure Strategy commits to considering the use of public private partnerships in projects, including neighbouring health centres as laid out in the Government's 10-Year Health Plan.

Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, urged the Government to go ‘further and faster' than the 10-Year Health Plan to allow local leaders to develop infrastructure projects.

‘Empowering systems and local leaders to kickstart these plans will not only start to address the decade of capital underinvestment in the NHS but it can also potentially kickstart growth and jobs as well,' Taylor said.