NEW BUSINESS OPPORTUNTIES TO CREATE PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS - ANDREW SMITH

The public sector will find it easier to set up new businesses and partnerships across a wide area of its economic activities, including science and technology, as a result of the publication of new joint venture guidance Andrew Smith, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, announced today.

The guidance, formulated by the Treasury and Partnerships UK, itself a public private partnership, identifies how joint ventures between the public and private sectors can be used to create new businesses making full use of untapped public sector assets under the wider markets initiative.

Andrew Smith said:

?Making better use of untapped public owned assets and intellectual knowledge can generate significant benefits for public services and the economy in general. There is huge scope for the Government to be innovative in developing commercial activities based on the public sector's unique skills and assets.

?Joint ventures provide a way to ensure that the taxpayer gets its fair share of the rewards while at the same time protecting public sector interests.?

James Stewart, Chief Executive of Partnerships UK said:

?We have already seen a number of groundbreaking deals between the public and private sectors to set up joint venture companies. This opens new business opportunities for the private sector and enables the public sector to make best use of its asset base.

?The new guidance will equip the public sector with the knowledge to make a success of joint ventures, and thereby increase the number of wider markets transactions. It complements the expert support that Partnerships UK can bring to bear on a project.?

Opportunities to generate value through public private partnerships come in many forms and range from small projects based on existing activities through to creating whole new businesses. These can extend from joint ventures, licensing, sponsorship, contracts, leasing, partnerships and lettings.

Public/private joint venture companies are one form of public-private partnership in which there is a growing interest. This joint venture guidance will help ensure that risks within the public sector are contained and sets out the relevant considerations for public sector bodies intending to form a joint venture company. It includes:

Definition of a joint venture company and its benefits
legal and policy considerations
selecting a private sector partner
its structure including management and share ownership
the role of staff and how to identify intellectual property
funding and commercial conduct of the company

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. Examples of public private joint ventures include:

British Waterways (BW): the public corporation responsible for 2,000 mile network of canals and rivers is in the process of putting together two joint venture partnerships which will each bring in important income for reinvestment in the waterways:

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i) The Water Grid - an exciting plan to develop the inland waterway network's capacity to transfer water around the country creating a new water supply network for utilities, industry, and even domestic customers;

ii) The Property PPP (P4) - a scheme by which BW will form a joint venture with a private sector company in order to play a greater role in waterside regeneration and development.

The Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS) : set up two joint venture companies to develop and markets its world leading science and technology:

i) Eco-Sense, co-owned by WS Ocean Systems, develop and markets instruments that monitor the state of the marine environment;

ii) Ultrabite, a joint venture with Kiotech, is marketing a unique fish attractant, developed by CEFAS.

2. The Government's Wider Market initiative encourages public sector bodies to undertake commercial services based on assets they own:

physical assets including irreducible spare capacity of equipment, land and buildings;
knowledge assets including software, databases, skills, intellectual property.

Its framework ?Selling government Services in Wider Markets: Policy and Guidance Note? was published in 1998.

3. The Treasury's joint venture guidance is available for the public sector keen on forming joint venture companies to commercially exploit the potential of public sector assets under the Wider Markets Initiative. Much of the guidance will also be relevant to joint venture companies for other purposes. Copies are available from the Partnerships UK wider markets unit on 020 7273 8340.

4. PUK has been set up to provide the pubic sector with specialist skills and expertise to help meet the challenges in implementing public private partnerships. It can help deliver better value for money PPPs and bridge the gap between pubic and private sectors by acting as a catalyst for change.

5. Questions on the guidance to Keith Sequeira at Partnerships UK on 020 7273 8381.

6. Press enquiries to Malcolm Graves at HM Treasury on 020 7211 1366 or 07785 316773.

Press Notice 2001 index June onwards