MP Questions Collapse of Laboratory Private Finance Initiative

12.40.04pm GMT Mon 7th Feb 2005

Vincent Cable MP has asked for an enquiry in the latest Private Finance Initiative failure, following an announcement by Patricia Hewitt, the Secretary of State for Trade, that the Government has abandoned the PFI project at the Teddington National Physical Laboratory, and paid £75m to the private contractor Laser. Vincent Cable is asking the National Audit Office to establish whether the taxpayer has achieved value for money and find out why the overall project has failed.

Vincent Cable said: "The impressive new building in Teddington hides a serious project failure. The buildings are less than 50% occupied. The famous atomic clocks - which measure Greenwich Mean Time - cannot be moved into the new buildings because they are not satisfactory. The project is years behind schedule. Now we are told that the contractors who failed have to be paid £75m to terminate the contract.

"We have had one PFI disaster in the area already with Jarvis in the schools. This seems to be another. The matter should be properly investigated."