An online database spelling out who owns what and where in public-private partnerships and private finance initiative projects is about to go live. It will provide more accessible data on the 633 projects with a capital value of more than £40bn that have so far been signed.

The database has been constructed by Partnerships UK, the part publicly owned PFI adviser. Its aim is to provide more transparency about PFI, according to James Stewart, PUK's chief executive. It will be useful, he says, for public sector procuring authorities, for private sector providers including new entrants to the market, for the public, and for PUK itself.