A report assessing whether the London Underground PPP deals will work has been criticised for being written too early.
A source close to London Underground said parliament's public spending watchdog the National Audit Office, which wrote the report, should have waited before analysing how well the PPPs were working.

The source said: "It's come out five years too early. I don't think it says anything to be perfectly honest. They obviously need to follow it up some years down the line."

Indeed, the report, entitled Are the PPPs likely to work successfully? concludes that it "is too early to judge how successful the PPPs will be".

The report, published last Thursday, said that the deals are clearly specified and understood but there were important tests ahead in managing the ageing assets of the tube system.

It’s come out five years too early. I don’t think it says anything

London Underground source

Sir John Bourn, the auditor general, said: "In the face of the inevitable uncertainty about what the next 30 years will bring, only time will tell whether these prospects are fully realised and, therefore, whether the eventual price that the taxpayer pays is worth it."

The NAO also published another report into the setting up of the PPP deals. Entitled Were They Good Deals? it found that it cost the government and bidders £455m to put the three PPP deals in place. It added that delays in setting the deals up meant work started two years later than originally planned.