I have to say that it is incorrect to say that the centre has been given £.3m of public money from the council.

We have given them a 25-year lease on the buildings with break clauses every five years. If the PMC is not able to be self-sustaining, the buildings will return to the council along with any subsequent improvements that the PMC are contractually obliged to carry out.

While the PMC has been granted a lease for the workshop buildings which the Survivors in Transition are in, it is clear that a licence agreement between the city council and the PMC will exist to ensure that the managers of the service remain Sheffield City Council.

On a day-to-day basis, Ms de la Haye will see very little change with regards to how the workshops are managed as work will still be done through the council but I have asked officers to meet with tenants of the workshops as soon as possible to explain some of the issues tenants may have.

In terms of the write-off of the 'loan', this is to ensure that the PMC can get on a secure footing. However, on the back of this, there will also be tapered-off grant aid over the next three years which will mean that the city council has £34,000 which it won't have if it continues to give grant aid to the PMC.

Furthermore, after year five, the PMC will have to pay a rent for the building which it doesn't at present.

These two factors alone will mean somewhere in the region of £70,000-£80,000 will come to the council that it didn't have previously.

Over eight years, the PMC will repay the equivalent of the loan to the council.

In addition, the PMC will pay a rent resulting in the city council receiving income over and above the £320,000, which it will not receive if the council doesn't adopt this more commercial approach for dealing with the PMC.

Coun Paul Scriven, Leader of Sheffield City Council

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