Welsh Conservatives will tomorrow call for robust new measures to end the Welsh Labour Government’s appalling record of managing grants, which has led to the waste of hundreds of millions of pounds.
In a debate on the floor of the National Assembly, Welsh Conservatives will hit out at a ‘damning’ failure to effectively manage grants, highlighted in 20 separate reports.
Almost exactly 12 months ago, a report into grants management by the Wales Audit Office concluded that ‘many grant schemes are poorly managed, lessons are rarely learned and funders frequently fail to tackle recipients’ poor performance.’
The Wales Audit Office also reported, ‘Wales uses grants more extensively than the rest of the UK and many grants schemes are overly complex, with both funders and recipients rarely learning lessons from problems which have arisen with past schemes.’
Welsh Conservatives fear that lessons have not been learnt, even after the most recent scandal of Awema.
Paul Davies AM, Shadow Minister for Finance, who will lead the debate, said, “One of the most important responsibilities of any government is to ensure value for money for the public.
“No less than 20 separate reports from the Wales Audit Office since 2005 have raised concerns about the Welsh Government’s management of grants or the misspending of taxpayers’ money.
“A year after a scathing report into the weaknesses of the Welsh Labour Government’s grant management processes was published, it is not apparent whether Ministers have learnt any of the lessons.
“Welsh Labour Ministers must overhaul their arrangements for the verification, distribution and robust assessment of grant schemes to end the series of mismanaged projects which have wasted such massive sums of money.
“At a time when public money is in short supply, it is more important than ever to eliminate waste and avoid such spectacular disasters as Labour’s mismanagement of grants to Awema, which led to the waste of millions of pounds.
“There are constructive steps that Welsh Labour Ministers could take to reassure the public including making regular statements on grants management reforms and introducing new transparent arrangements to allow taxpayers to clearly see how their money is being spent.”
