Parliamentary spending watchdog to investigate Tube PPP in the wake of administration of consortium

The National Audit Office is set to investigate the London Underground PPP contract in the wake of the collapse of consortium Metronet last month.

The Evening Standard reported today that NAO chief John Bourn confirmed the probe in a letter to shadow transport secretary Theresa Villiers.

His letter said the scope of the investigation would be drawn up once the future of Metronet’s contracts, which covered two thirds of the London Underground, had been resolved.

An NAO spokesman confirmed that the body was current “monitoring and gathering information” ahead of a full scale inquiry into events surrounding Metronet. The probe is expected to look into whether the collapse of Metronet was down to its structure or to the PPP system.

The inquiry comes as London mayor Ken Livingstone launched a bid to return the contracts managed by Metronet to the public sector. Transport for London launched a “formal expression of interest” to take over the Metronet contracts last Friday.