UNION bosses gathered in Blackburn last night to blast plans to fund building work at Queen's Park Hospital and St Wilfrid's School, using money from private businesses.

Members of the Blackburn District Trades Council attended a meeting at the Hornby Lecture Theatre, in Blackburn Library, and accused government and council bosses of allowing business to make profit from education and health.

The Government has been asked to give permission to St Wilfrid's High School to fund the rebuilding of crumbling classrooms by using the controversial Private Finance Initiative.

In March, an Ofsted report labelled the school buildings a health and safety hazard for pupils.

And the next phase of work at Queen's Park Hospital may also be paid for through private, rather than public, coffers. The closure of Blackburn Royal Infirmary and the move to a single site 'super hospital' at Queen's Park will be paid for by a private company, who will then effectively rent the buildings back to the health trust for an annual fee.

Members of the health union UNISON have likened PFI to "a rental agreement in which you pay over the odds but end up never owning the asset."

Local leaders of the National Union of Teachers also launched a series of attacks on the arrangements, saying the future of the education service is being mortgaged.

East Lancs spokesman of the NUT Simon Jones, said: "PFI was pioneered under the Tories for road construction, but has become a means of funding a variety of public sector capital projects from hospitals to prisons.

"For education, this means that new schools and services will be bought from the private sector over a lease period. But, in most cases, the capital assets will remain in private sector hands at the end of the contract.

"Business should not be allowed to make a profit from the provision of education."

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