Regeneration Investment Fund for Wales

Part of 4. Topical Questions – in the Senedd at 3:59 pm on 24 January 2018.

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Photo of Rebecca Evans Rebecca Evans Labour 3:59, 24 January 2018

I thank you for those questions. I will say that in terms of the timescale involved, all matters to do with RIFW were looked at in a great deal of detail by both the Wales Audit Office and the Public Accounts Committee. Those pieces of work in particular spanned several years, and the Welsh Government did accept all of the 17 recommendations made by PAC, and, actually, this legal action does respond to one of those recommendations, suggesting that action be taken with regard to breach of contract and professional negligence.

For all of the reasons outlined by the Deputy Presiding Officer, I'm really loath to comment any further on the specifics of the legal process that is currently under way, and certainly I won't be commenting on any evidence that we have gathered. However, I will say, in order to be helpful to Members, that I know that there are concerns both with regard to the legal action and then the separate issue of the overage payments as well. So, I think Members would be interested to know that, thus far, more than £5 million has been received as overage payments to date, and additional payments are expected in future. Again, it's too early to say what the precise figure of those funds might be, but I'll be certainly happy to provide further updates to Members on this and other issues as things progress.