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79-577: NWTF is intended to be as inclusive as possible while still supporting the best science. The scheme was announced on 9 January 2014 by David Willetts , Minister for Science and Universities. The total funding for the Facility is £13.3 million, £10.7 million coming from EPSRC and £2.6 million from the UK Aerospace Technology Institute. The EPSRC and ATI decided to fund the NWTF in order to match

158-598: A certain threshold, and PFI was a mechanism to take debt off the government balance sheet and so meet the Maastricht convergence criteria. PFI immediately proved controversial, and was attacked by Labour critics such as the Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury Harriet Harman , who said that PFI was really a back-door form of privatisation (House of Commons, 7 December 1993), and the future Chancellor of

237-483: A commercial rate. But, at the time, Vince Cable of the Liberal Democrats , subsequently Secretary of State for Business in the coalition , argued in favour of traditional public financing structures instead of propping up PFI with public money: The whole thing has become terribly opaque and dishonest and it's a way of hiding obligations. PFI has now largely broken down and we are in the ludicrous situation where

316-635: A full list of PFI contracts by department in March 2015. A study by HM Treasury in July 2003 was supportive, showing that the only deals in its sample which were over budget were those where the public sector changed its mind after deciding what it wanted and from whom it wanted it. A later report by the National Audit Office in 2009 found that 69 per cent of PFI construction projects between 2003 and 2008 were delivered on time and 65 per cent were delivered at

395-514: A range of PFI projects. In December, 2012 the Treasury published a White Paper outlining the results of a review of the PFI and proposals for change. These aimed to: Under this "new approach", the government would become a minority equity co-investor in future projects, partly to better align the private and public sector interests in new projects. A consultation exercise was subsequently undertaken by

474-473: A result of the 2010 Spending Review , directing the cuts to those projects where least progress had been made with contract procurement and obtaining planning permission . In February 2011 the Treasury announced a project to examine the £835m Queen's Hospital PFI deal. Once savings and efficiencies are identified, the hope - as yet unproven - is that the PFI consortium can be persuaded to modify its contract. The same process could potentially be applied across

553-513: A service provider, and often a bank as well. The consortium's funding will be used to build the facility and to undertake maintenance and capital replacement during the life-cycle of the contract. Once the contract is operational, the SPV may be used as a conduit for contract amendment discussions between the customer and the facility operator. SPVs often charge fees for this go-between 'service'. PFI contracts are typically for 25–30 years (depending on

632-496: A services or operating company (called "Opco"). The main contract is between the public sector authority and the Topco. Requirements then 'flow down' from the Topco to the Capco and Opco via secondary contracts. Further requirements then flow down to subcontractors , again with contracts to match. Often the main subcontractors are companies with the same shareholders as the Topco. Prior to

711-592: A stable cooperation. It sets the Tories the task not of changing humanity but of designing institutions and arrangements that encourage our natural reciprocal altruism. Willetts is married to artist Sarah Butterfield. The couple have one daughter, born 1988, and one son, born 1992. His wealth in 2009 was estimated at £1.9m. Willetts was sworn in as a member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom in 2010, giving him

790-736: Is a British politician and life peer . From 1992 to 2015, he was the Member of Parliament representing the constituency of Havant in Hampshire . He served as Minister of State for Universities and Science from 2010 until July 2014 and became a member of the House of Lords in 2015. He was appointed chair of the UK Space Agency's board in April 2022. He is president of the Resolution Foundation . Willetts

869-529: Is a document setting out what the consortium is expected to achieve. If the consortium fails to meet any of the agreed standards it should lose an element of its payment until standards improve. If standards do not improve after an agreed period, the public sector authority is usually entitled to terminate the contract, compensate the consortium where appropriate, and take ownership of the project. Termination procedures are highly complex, as most projects are not able to secure private financing without assurances that

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948-482: Is absolutely critical that we increase our support among younger generations. To do this, we must listen to and engage with their concerns on Brexit. They voted overwhelmingly to Remain in the European Union in 2016 – and since then have become even stronger in their views. Since the referendum, nearly 2 million young people are now of voting age. Of those in this group who are certain to vote, an astounding 87% support

1027-421: Is delicate territory because it is not a bad thing that women had these opportunities, but it widened the gap in household incomes because you suddenly had two-earner couples, both of whom were well-educated, compared with often workless households where nobody was educated". As the minister responsible for universities, Willetts was an advocate and spokesperson for the coalition government's policy of increasing

1106-446: Is flawed and must be replaced. We need a new system that doesn't pretend that risks have been transferred to the private sector when they can't be, and that genuinely transfers risks when they can be . . . On PFI, we are drawing up alternative models that are more transparent and better value for taxpayers. The first step is transparent accounting, to remove the perverse incentives that result in PFI simply being used to keep liabilities off

1185-491: Is sometimes ignored, as when Argentina 'restructured' its foreign debt ). Repayment depends entirely on the ability of the consortium to deliver the services in accordance with the output specified in the contract. Under guidance issued prior to the reform proposals initiated in December 2011, public sector partners were permitted to contribute up to 30% of the construction costs as a capital contribution, generally handed over at

1264-445: The 2007–2008 financial crisis , large PFI projects were funded through the sale of bonds and/or senior debt . Since the crisis, funding by senior debt has become more common. Smaller PFI projects – the majority by number – have typically always been funded directly by banks in the form of senior debt. Senior debt is generally slightly more expensive than bonds, which the banks would argue is due to their more accurate understanding of

1343-532: The Blair government , PFI is part of the wider programme of privatisation and macroeconomic public policy, and presented as a means for increasing accountability and efficiency for public spending. PFI is controversial in the UK. In 2003, the National Audit Office felt that it provided good value for money overall; according to critics, PFI has been used simply to place a great amount of debt " off-balance-sheet ". In 2011,

1422-707: The Centre for Policy Studies , aged 31. Paul Foot wrote in Private Eye that in a 1993 document called The Opportunities for Private Funding in the NHS , published by the Social Market Foundation and financed by private healthcare company BUPA , Willetts provided the "intellectual thrust" for private finance initiatives (PFIs) in the National Health Service . Aged 36, Willetts entered Parliament in 1992 as

1501-522: The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills with the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform into the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills in June 2009. On 19 May 2007, Willetts made a controversial speech on grammar schools in which he defended the existing Conservative Party policy of not reintroducing grammar schools. The speech received a mixed reception. The analysis

1580-516: The Institute for Fiscal Studies and a visiting fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford . On 9 February 2018, the University of Leicester announced they had elected David Willetts as successor to Bruce Grocott to become their new chancellor . Willetts is the author of several books on conservatism, including "Why Vote Conservative" (1996) and "Modern Conservatism" (1992), as well as numerous articles. He

1659-596: The MP for Havant . He quickly established himself in Parliament, becoming a Whip , a Cabinet Office Minister, and then Paymaster General in his first term (when that role was split between the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury as a policy co-ordination role). During this period Willetts gained "Two Brains" as a nickname, a monicker reportedly coined by The Guardian 's former political editor Michael White . However, Willetts

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1738-450: The TUPE process which applies to all staff in a company whose ownership changes. A public sector authority signs a contract with a private sector consortium , technically known as a special-purpose vehicle (SPV). This consortium is typically formed for the specific purpose of providing the PFI. It is owned by a number of private sector investors, usually including a construction company and

1817-568: The honorific title " The Right Honourable " and after ennoblement the post nominal letters "PC" for life. For Willetts' roles in the 1980s–1990s as a welfare specialist: Private finance initiative#National Health Service (NHS) The private finance initiative ( PFI ) was a United Kingdom government procurement policy aimed at creating " public–private partnerships " (PPPs) where private firms are contracted to complete and manage public projects. Initially launched in 1992 by Prime Minister John Major , and expanded considerably by

1896-512: The Chancellor, Philip Hammond , announced that the UK Government will no longer use PF2, the current model of Private Finance Initiative, for new infrastructure projects, due to value-for-money considerations and the difficulties caused by the collapse of PFI construction company Carillion . A Centre of Excellence is to be established within the Department of Health and Social Care to manage

1975-593: The Exchequer in the coalition, sought to distance his party from the excesses of PFI by blaming Labour for its misuse. At the time, Osborne proposed a modified PFI which would preserve the arrangement of private sector investment for public infrastructure projects in return for part-privatisation, but would ensure proper risk transfer to the private sector along with transparent accounting: The government's use of PFI has become totally discredited, so we need new ways to leverage private-sector investment . . . Labour's PFI model

2054-400: The Exchequer , Alistair Darling , warned that "apparent savings now could be countered by the formidable commitment on revenue expenditure in years to come". Initially, the private sector was unenthusiastic about PFI, and the public sector was opposed to its implementation. In 1993, the Chancellor of the Exchequer described its progress as "disappointingly slow". To help promote and implement

2133-516: The Labour Secretary of State for Health , Alan Johnson , reaffirmed this commitment with regard to the health sector, stating that "PFIs have always been the NHS’s 'plan A' for building new hospitals … There was never a 'plan B'". However, because of banks' unwillingness to lend money for PFI projects, the UK government now had to fund the so-called 'private' finance initiative itself. In March 2009 it

2212-765: The Labour Party, the Scottish National Party (SNP), and the Green Party , as well as commentators such as George Monbiot . Proponents of the PFI include the World Bank , the IMF and the Confederation of British Industry . Both Conservative and Labour governments sought to justify PFI on the practical grounds that the private sector is better at delivering services than the public sector. This position has been supported by

2291-621: The Labour government appointed Malcolm Bates to chair the efforts to review the policy with a number of Arthur Andersen staffers. They recommended the creation of a Treasury Task Force (TTF) to train public servants into PFI practice and to coordinate the implementation of PFI. In 1998, the TTF was renamed to "Partnership UK" (PUK) and sold 51% of its share to the private sector. PUK was then chaired by Sir Derek Higgs , director of Prudential Insurance and chairman of British Land plc . These changes meant that

2370-692: The Minister of State for Universities and Science. In June 2011, Willetts said during the launch of the Government's social mobility strategy that movement between the classes had "stagnated" over the past 40 years, and Willetts attributed this partly to the entry of women into the workplace and universities for the lack of progress for men. "Feminism trumped egalitarianism ", he said, adding that women who would otherwise have been housewives had taken university places and well-paid jobs that could have gone to ambitious working-class men. He went on to say that, "One of

2449-688: The Resolution Foundation in Summer 2015. He Chaired the Foundation's Intergenerational Commission between 2016 and 2018, and is now President of the Resolution Foundation, along with its Intergenerational Centre. He is currently a visiting professor at King's College London where he works with the Policy Institute at King's, a visiting professor at the Cass Business School , a board member of

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2528-492: The Shadow Cabinet under Michael Howard . In August 2005, after ruling out running for leader owing to a lack of support, commentators speculated that he was gunning for the post of Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer and would cut a deal with either David Davis or David Cameron . On 15 September he confirmed his support for Davis, at that time the bookies ' favourite. Willetts, a centrist moderniser, went to ground following

2607-472: The Treasury failed to negotiate decent PFI deals with publicly owned banks, resulting in £1bn of unnecessary costs. This failure is particularly grave given the coalition's own admission in their national infrastructure plan that a 1% reduction in the cost of capital for infrastructure investment could save the taxpayer £5bn a year. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) withdrew funding support from seven waste management PFI projects as

2686-600: The UK National Audit Office with regard to certain projects. However, critics claim that many uses of PFI are ideological rather than practical; Dr. Allyson Pollock recalls a meeting with the then Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown who could not provide a rationale for PFI other than to "declare repeatedly that the public sector is bad at management, and that only the private sector is efficient and can manage services well." To better promote PFI,

2765-471: The UK government would no longer use PFI for new infrastructure projects; however, PFI projects will continue to operate for some time to come. The private finance initiative (PFI) is a procurement method which uses private sector investment in order to deliver public sector infrastructure and/or services according to a specification defined by the public sector. It is a sub-set of a broader procurement approach termed public-private partnership (PPP), with

2844-430: The UK talent base to world-class wind tunnel facilities. The enhanced UK capability in experimental aerodynamics is available to all UK-based researchers. The stated aim was to create nodes of excellence attracting young researchers. Another aim was to establish a closer tie with industry, creating a pull-through environment and an intended spill-over of the collaboration and benefits to other sectors. The NWTF programme

2923-475: The United Kingdom staying in the European Union. If we do not hear their voices, who could blame them for feeling excluded and powerless on this most vital issue. The truth is that if Brexit fails this generation, we risk losing young people for good. Our party's electoral future will be irrevocably blighted." In early 2019, he co-founded the group Right to Vote . According to the Public Whip analyses, Willetts

3002-687: The announcement of the Davis tax plan since it was widely speculated that he disagreed with the seemingly uncosted and widely derided tax plan and found it impossible to defend. Davis then lost the candidacy race to Cameron. Following Cameron's win, Willetts was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Education and Skills in Cameron's first Shadow Cabinet in December 2005, the role Cameron had vacated, later becoming Shadow Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills . His title became Shadow Minister for Universities and Skills since Gordon Brown 's merger of

3081-400: The balance sheet. The government has been using the same approach as the banks did, with disastrous consequences. We need a more honest and flexible approach to building the hospitals and schools the country needs. For projects such as major transport infrastructure we are developing alternative models that shift risk on to the private sector. The current system – heads the contractor wins, tails

3160-528: The broader aims of the NWTF, monitors the running of the NWTF and reviews progress versus Key Performance Indicators. The AB is composed of representatives from EPSRC, ATI, senior academics (from the UK and abroad), representatives from industry, an existing National Facility Manager and is chaired by an independent senior UK-based aerodynamicist. David Willetts David Linsay Willetts, Baron Willetts , PC , FRS , HonFRSC , HonFREng , FAcSS (born 9 March 1956)

3239-468: The cap on tuition fees in England and Wales from £3,225 to £9,000 per year. In November 2013, Willetts announced the sale of student loans to Erudio Student Loans – a debt collection consortium – removing £160m from public debt but ignoring the implications for former students. In July 2014, Willetts announced that he would not contest the next general election , saying that "after more than 20 years

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3318-496: The construction stage is financed using bank debt, and then bonds for the much longer period of operation. The banks who fund PFI projects are repaid by the consortium from the money received from the government during the lifespan of the contract. From the point of view of the private sector, PFI borrowing is considered low risk because public sector authorities are very unlikely to default . Indeed, under IMF rules, national governments are not permitted to go bankrupt (although this

3397-411: The contracting authority to enforce it. Many steps have been taken over the years to standardise the form of PFI contracts to ensure public interests are better protected. The typical PFI provider is organized into three parts or legal entities : a holding company (called "Topco") which is the same as the SPV mentioned above, a capital equipment or infrastructure provision company (called "Capco"), and

3476-415: The credit-worthiness of PFI deals – they may consider that monoline providers underestimate the risk, especially during the construction stage, and hence can offer a better price than the banks are willing to. Refinancing of PFI deals is common. Once construction is complete, the risk profile of a project can be lower, so cheaper debt can be obtained. This refinancing might in the future be done via bonds –

3555-432: The debt financing of the project will be repaid in the case of termination. In most termination cases the public sector is required to repay the debt and take ownership of the project. In practice, termination is considered a last resort only. Whether public interest is at all protected by a particular PFI contract is highly dependent on how well or badly the contract was written and the determination (or not) and capacity of

3634-560: The delegates adopted a resolution condemning PFI and calling for an independent review of the policy, which was ignored by the party leadership. In education, the first PFI school opened in 2000. In 2005/2006 the Labour Government introduced Building Schools for the Future , a scheme introduced for improving the infrastructure of Britain's schools. Of the £2.2 billion funding that the Labour government committed to BSF, £1.2 billion (55.5%)

3713-690: The end of the construction period and subject to appropriate risk transfer and performance regimes being in place. The government indicated in its reform consultation that allowance for higher levels of capital contribution was being considered, noting the some international practice also offered examples of higher levels of capital contribution. PFI contracts generally allocate risks to the private sector contractor, who takes out appropriate insurance to cover these risks and includes anticipated insurance costs in its PFI charges. However, it has been recognised that levels of insurance premium are variable following cyclical economic changes, and difficult to predict over

3792-479: The existing PFI contracts in the NHS. There have been over 50 English hospitals procured under a PFI contract with capital cost exceeding £50 million: There have been some six Scottish hospitals procured under a PFI contract with capital cost exceeding £50 million: The following is a selection of major projects in other sectors procured under a PFI contract: The Guardian published a full list of PFI contracts by department in July 2012, and HM Treasury published

3871-504: The financial risk back to the public sector, then that has to be reflected in the structure of the contracts. The public sector cannot simply step in and lend the money to itself, taking more risk so that the PFI structure can be maintained while leaving the private sector with the high returns these projects can bring. That seems to us fairly ridiculous. In an interview in November 2009, Conservative George Osborne , subsequently Chancellor of

3950-473: The government is having to provide the funds for the private finance initiative. In opposition at the time, even the Conservative Party considered that, with the taxpayer now funding it directly, PFI had become "ridiculous". Philip Hammond , subsequently Secretary of State for Transport in the coalition, said: If you take the private finance out of PFI, you haven’t got much left . . . if you transfer

4029-547: The government regarding the terms on which the public sector stake would be managed, aiming for a generally consistent approach across projects but with scope for details to be finalised prior to operation to reflect any project-specific issues. The government's response to the consultation and the "Standard PF2 Equity Documents" were published in October 2013. Under the Priority School Building Programme which

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4108-452: The government transferred the responsibility of managing PFI to a corporation closely related with the owners, financiers, consultants, and subcontractors that stood to benefit from this policy. This created a strong appearance of conflict of interest. Trade unions such as Unison and the GMB , which are Labour supporters, strongly opposed these developments. At the 2002 Labour Party Conference ,

4187-410: The grounds that they are a form of odious debt . Critics such as Peter Dixon argue that PFI is fundamentally the wrong model for infrastructure investment, saying that public sector funding is the way forward. In November 2010 the UK government released spending figures showing that the current total payment obligation for PFI contracts in the UK was £267 billion. Research has also shown that in 2009

4266-554: The handling of benefit payments at post offices. Two months after Tony Blair 's Labour Party took office, the Health Secretary , Alan Milburn , announced that "when there is a limited amount of public-sector capital available, as there is, it's PFI or bust". PFI expanded considerably in 1996 and then expanded much further under Labour with the NHS (Private Finance) Act 1997 , resulting in criticism from many trade unions , elements of

4345-619: The inaugural Oakeshott Memorial Lecture to the London School of Economics in which he made an attempt to explain how game theory can be used to help think about how to improve social capital . The lecture was described by the Times as "an audacious attempt by the Conservative Party's leading intellectual to relate a new Tory narrative". Civic conservatism, like free market economics, proceeds from deep-seated individual self-interest towards

4424-713: The lifetime of a PFI project. PFI terms were amended in 2002 and standardised in 2006 to allow for insurance cost sharing mechanisms, whereby the client and contractor could share the risk of market fluctuation in insurance premium costs. PFI was implemented in the UK by the Conservative Government led by John Major in 1992. It was introduced against the backdrop of the Maastricht Treaty which provided for European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). To participate in EMU, EU member states were required to keep public debt below

4503-417: The main defining characteristic being the use of project finance (using private sector debt and equity, underwritten by the public) in order to deliver the public services. Beyond developing the infrastructure and providing finance , private sector companies operate the public facilities, sometimes using former public sector staff who have had their employment contracts transferred to the private sector through

4582-535: The parliamentary Treasury Select Committee recommended: "PFI should be brought on balance sheet. The Treasury should remove any perverse incentives unrelated to value for money by ensuring that PFI is not used to circumvent departmental budget limits. It should also ask the OBR to include PFI liabilities in future assessments of the fiscal rules". In October 2018, the Chancellor Philip Hammond announced that

4661-519: The policy, he created the Private Finance Office within the Treasury, with a Private Finance Panel headed by Alastair Morton . These institutions were staffed with people linked with the City of London , and accountancy and consultancy firms who had a vested interest in the success of PFI. The largest of the early PFI projects was Pathway, announced by Peter Lilley in 1995, which was to automate

4740-545: The public sector. On Monday 11 April 2016, 17 PFI-funded schools in Edinburgh failed to open after the Easter break because of structural problems identified in two of them the previous Friday; the schools had been erected in the 1990s by Miller Construction. A January 2018 report by the National Audit Office found that the UK had incurred many billions of pounds in extra costs for no clear benefit through PFIs. In October 2018,

4819-399: The reality of life". The Department for Education and Skills was abolished by the new Prime Minister , Gordon Brown , who established two new departments. On 2 July 2007, Cameron reshuffled Willetts down to the junior of the two departments: the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills . Following the 2010 general election , Prime Minister David Cameron appointed Willetts as

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4898-451: The state and individuals as a policy concern (rather than merely thinking of individuals and the state as the only agencies) and is one of the principles behind the increasing support in the Conservative Party's localist agenda and its emphasis on voluntary organisations. During an interview with The Spectator , he was referred to as 'the real father of Cameronism'. Fourteen years after the publication of "Civic Conservatism" Willetts gave

4977-464: The system have never been weaker. The government is very concerned to keep the headline rates of deficit and debt down, so it's looking to use an increasingly expensive form of borrowing through an intermediary knowing the investment costs won't immediately show up on their budgets. The high cost of PFI deals is a major issue, with advocates for renegotiating PFI deals in the face of reduced public sector budgets, or even for refusing to pay PFI charges on

5056-426: The taxpayer loses – will end. Despite being so critical of PFI while in opposition and promising reform, once in power George Osborne progressed 61 PFI schemes worth a total of £6.9bn in his first year as Chancellor. According to Mark Hellowell from the University of Edinburgh : The truth is the coalition government have made a decision that they want to expand PFI at a time when the value for money credentials of

5135-534: The things that happened over that period was that the entirely admirable transformation of opportunities for women meant that with a lot of the expansion of education in the 1960s, '70s and '80s, the first beneficiaries were the daughters of middle-class families who had previously been excluded from educational opportunities [...] And if you put that with what is called 'assortative mating' – that well-educated women marry well-educated men – this transformation of opportunities for women ended up magnifying social divides. It

5214-482: The time has come to move onto fresh challenges." In October 2014, Willetts was appointed a visiting professor at King's College London . It was announced that he was to be a life peer in the 2015 Dissolution Honours and was created Baron Willetts, of Havant in the County of Hampshire , on 16 October 2015. In June 2015, Willetts was appointed executive chair of the think tank the Resolution Foundation . In May 2018 he

5293-464: The total capital value of PFI contracts signed throughout the UK was £68bn, committing the British taxpayer to future spending of £215bn over the life of the contracts. The 2007–2008 financial crisis presented PFI with difficulties because many sources of private capital had dried up. Nevertheless, PFI remained the UK government's preferred method for public sector procurement under Labour. In January 2009

5372-436: The type of project); although contracts less than 20 years or more than 40 years exist, they are considerably less common. During the period of the contract the consortium will provide certain services, which were previously provided by the public sector. The consortium is paid for the work over the course of the contract on a "no service no fee" performance basis. The public authority will design an "output specification" which

5451-618: Was Leader of the Opposition, initially serving in the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Education Secretary before becoming Shadow Social Security (later Shadow Work and Pensions) Secretary. He carved out a reputation as an expert on pensions and benefits. Since leaving the DWP post, he has been recruited as an external consultant by the actuaries Punter Southall . Following the 2005 election, he served as Shadow Secretary of State for Trade and Industry in

5530-467: Was a founding signatory in 2005 of the Henry Jackson Society principles, advocating a proactive approach to the spread of liberal democracy across the world, including when necessary by military intervention. He is an honorary member of Conservative Friends of Poland. Defunct Willetts has pioneered the idea of "civic conservatism". This is the idea of focusing on the institutions between

5609-431: Was announced that the Treasury would lend £2bn of public money to private firms building schools and other projects under PFI. Labour's Chief Secretary to the Treasury , Yvette Cooper , claimed the loans should ensure that projects worth £13bn – including waste treatment projects, environmental schemes and schools – would not be delayed or cancelled. She also promised that the loans would be temporary and would be repaid at

5688-487: Was applauded by The Guardian and The Times . However, The Daily Telegraph was strongly critical of the speech, which was unpopular with some Conservative Party activists. The speech was made more controversial when David Cameron weighed into the argument, backing Willetts' speech and describing his critics as "delusional", accusing them of "splashing around in the shallow end of the educational debate" and of "clinging on to outdated mantras that bear no relation to

5767-450: Was educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham . He then studied philosophy, politics and economics at Christ Church, Oxford , where he graduated with a first-class degree. Having served as Nigel Lawson 's private researcher, Willetts took charge of the Treasury monetary policy division at 26 before moving over to Margaret Thatcher 's Policy Unit at 28. He subsequently took over

5846-586: Was elected a Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society . In February 2022 he was appointed a director of the Synbioven investment fund, and in April 2022 he was appointed chair of the board of the UK Space Agency . In December 2018, Willetts was one of the signatories of a statement by some senior Conservatives calling for a second referendum over Brexit . This stated, "If we are to remain a party of government, it

5925-507: Was forced to resign from the latter post by the Standards and Privileges Committee over an investigation into Neil Hamilton in 1996, when it found that he had "dissembled" in his evidence to the Committee over whether pressure was put onto an earlier investigation into Hamilton. Despite the resignation, Willetts was able to return to the shadow front bench a few years later while William Hague

6004-631: Was launched in 2014 by the Education and Skills Funding Agency , the rebuilding and/or refurbishment of 46 schools in England was funded and procured using the PF2 model. A specialist unit was set up within the Scottish Office in 2005 to handle PFI projects. In November 2014, Nicola Sturgeon announced a £409m public-private funding package which would be funded through a non-profit distributing model which would cap private sector returns, returning any surplus to

6083-483: Was strongly in favour of an elected House of Lords and was strongly against the ban on fox hunting . TheyWorkForYou additionally records that, amongst other things, Willetts was strongly in favour of the Iraq War , strongly in favour of an investigation into it, moderately against equal gay rights, and very strongly for replacing Trident . Following his decision to stand down at the 2015 General Election, Willetts joined

6162-485: Was to be covered by PFI credits. Some local authorities were persuaded to accept Academies in order to secure BSF funding in their area. In 2003 the Labour Government used public-private partnership (PPP) schemes for the privatisation of London Underground 's infrastructure and rolling stock. The two private companies created under the PPP, Metronet and Tube Lines were later taken into public ownership. By October 2007

6241-989: Was to have a duration of five years. A mid-term review was to review the progress made during the first two and a half years. The current end date is December 2018, The NWTF has a management board (MB) that meets approximately every 3 months. This is composed of a Principal Investigator from each of the current host institutions and the NWTF Project Manager. The current MB members are Professor Holger Babinsky ( University of Cambridge ), Professor Chris Atkin ( City University ), Professor Kevin Garry ( Cranfield University ), Dr Richard Green ( University of Glasgow ), Professor Jonathan Morrison ( Imperial College ), Professor Peter Ireland ( University of Oxford ), Professor Bharathram Ganapathisubramani ( University of Southampton ) and Dr Kevin Gouder (NWTF Project Manager). An advisory board (AB) oversees

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