1. Will the First Minister make a statement on the Welsh Government's decision to take legal action against two firms in relation to the sale of land through the Regeneration Investment Fund for Wales? 113

Thank you. I issued a written statement on 22 January 2018 regarding legal action concerning the regeneration investment fund for Wales. I can confirm that legal proceedings are under way for breach of contract and professional negligence against Amber Fund Management and Lambert Smith Hampton Group Ltd. It would be inappropriate for me to comment further at this stage in those proceedings.

Neil Hamilton—sorry, Neil McEvoy. [Laughter.] I was looking over there then. Sorry, Neil.

Okay. Cabinet Secretary, I'm pleased that the Welsh Government is taking some action over the land sale scandals that took place in 2012, but I'm very concerned that it has taken no less than six years to get to this point. That's six years since my constituents lost out on £39 million at Lisvane, when the land was sold on the cheap to an offshore company, and £7 million at Rhoose in the Vale of Glamorgan.

I'm limited, as we've been told, as to what I can ask, because of the legal proceedings, but you've clearly built up a body of evidence in order to sue the firms that were advising on the sale of the land. So, will you be providing that evidence to South Wales Police and the Serious Fraud Office, and will you call for the criminal investigation to be reopened?

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.

Thank you, Minister.