Campaigners have called for a “root and branch inquiry” into public private partnerships (PPP) after building defects were uncovered in schools across Edinburgh earlier this year.

A total of 17 schools were forced to close for safety reasons in April after the private consortium behind the construction and maintenance of the schools, the Edinburgh Schools Partnership (ESP), admitted that it cannot guarantee the safety the buildings.

On the day pupils return to the repaired schools, trade unions, a left wing think tank and anti-PPP campaign groups have written to First Minister Nicola Sturgeon calling on her to launch a Scotland-wide review into the PFI/PPP building model.

An independent public inquiry led by construction expert John Cole has been is launched into the Edinburgh fiasco, which affected about 7,600 pupils. The inquiry is expected to look what went wrong at the schools, including funding arrangements for the buildings, which were all built or refurbished as part of the same PPP scheme.

However the STUC, Unite, Unison Scotland, NASUWT, the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) and the Common Weal argue that the problems should be looked at in other authorities.

In the letter, the campaigners question whether the ‘self-certification’ model of PPP building regulation should be amended or replaced and whether the current ‘Non-Profit Distribution’ and ‘Hub’ models of public-private partnerships are in the public interest in terms of cost and quality of delivery, and whether an alternative approach should be considered.

The full in full reads:

DEAR First Minister,

We are writing to stress the importance of the Scottish Government following through on your position, prior to the election, for a wider and “longer term inquiry” into PPP contracts in Scotland.

Since the election, the scandal of PFI/PPP built schools being constructed without essential wall ties has grown from 17 schools in Edinburgh to identical problems identified in Glasgow and South Lanarkshire. We therefore believe that while the Edinburgh City Council inquiry is essential, a wider inquiry across the whole of Scotland is needed as this problem is clearly not isolated to the capital.

That wider inquiry must also be wider in scope, taking into account:

This would constitute a root-and-branch assessment of PPP in Scotland, which we think is necessary given the severity of the crisis provoked by the schools scandal and risks to public health and safety.

We also believe that it is vital the inquiry is led not simply by those in the construction industry, but also independent public finance experts, trade unions and parents, who are just some of the direct stakeholders in this issue.

Signed:

Common Weal

Unison Scotland

NASUWT

Larry Flanagan - EIS General Secretary

People Vs PFI campaign

Unite the Union

STUC

Jubilee Scotland