4. 3. Statement: Sport Wales

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:12 pm on 14 February 2017.

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Photo of Rebecca Evans Rebecca Evans Labour 3:12, 14 February 2017

I thank the Member for those questions. With regard to the review, it was specifically a governance review, so we didn't ask the reviewers to explore those wider issues of the effectiveness of the organisation and so on. Those were issues that were being looked at by the review that the chair was leading on, and now we’ll be asking a member of the panel that was advising and helping in that works to take forward that. I would expect that work to be concluded in the coming weeks—it's not a piece of work that I would expect to go on for a long period. I understand a substantial amount of work had already been completed, and I look forward to seeing that review in due course, and, obviously, I'll be updating Members on that.

With regard to the governance that we have in place for Sport Wales, I can confirm there is a framework document in place. There's also a remit letter in place, but I intend to issue the board with a refreshed remit letter in the light of where we find ourselves at the moment. There's a Welsh Government-approved business plan in place with the organisation, and Welsh Government internal audit service conducted an audit in October 2015 and did provide those reasonable assurances that the controls are in place to ensure effective oversight within the organisation

With regard to your questions about further information on John Taylor, well, John Taylor has held a range of posts, mainly in the public sector, before serving as ACAS’s first chief executive for 12 years from 2001. His previous roles included being the chief executive of the Development Board for Rural Wales and the south-east Wales training and enterprise council in the 1990s. In more recent years, he's been deputy chair of the University of West London, chair of the careers service for Wales, the Workers’ Educational Association, and is currently chair of the major contractors committee for the electrical contracting industry. So, again, I think that he and Lawrence are both well suited to undertake this interim arrangement that we have in place for Sport Wales. Again, I would just echo the comments that you have made about the professionalism with which Sport Wales have undertaken their work as staff members in the recent period, which I know has been difficult for them, and to reassure you that there have been no issues of policy or finance that the board would have to have dealt with, but there are things now that the board will have to deal with in the very near future, such as setting the budget for the next financial year and various matters that will have to be signed off relating to national governing bodies and so on. So, there's plenty of work for the board to get back to doing now that their responsibilities have been reinstated.