THE Scottish government came under increasing pressure yesterday to scrap the disastrous private finance initiatives used to build schools and hospitals following a damning report into Edinburgh school closures.

The Unite union called for the immediate scrapping of the initiatives after Professor John Cole published a report into the closure of 17 Edinburgh schools built using private finance. The report was carried out following the collapse of a wall in a primary school in January last year.

Schools were shut for five months while investigations were ongoing, disrupting 8,400 pupils, their parents and teachers.

The report found that brick walls in four other schools fell down in high winds in 2012, but nothing was done about it.

Unite deputy Scottish secretary Mary Alexander warned that the report showed that “local councils were being held at gun point to use private finance.”

She said: “Even if it was shown that it was cheaper to use traditional public-sector borrowing, local authorities were being told quite clearly that PFI was the only game in town.”

The report found that using private finance often involved poor quality design and construction, and that the Edinburgh scheme was “quite typical” in this regard.

Ms Alexander said it was very fortunate that no children or staff were injured or killed during the collapse.

She said: “Private finance is delivering poor quality at extortionate cost, putting massive debt around the necks of councils, health boards and other public bodies, and dragging them under at a time of austerity.”

Last year, Highland Council asked the Scottish government for permission to buy out their PFI schools contract to save money and increase accountability, but the Scottish government refused.

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