Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:40 pm on 22 May 2018.
Thank you, Presiding Officer. First Minister, today the Public Accounts Committee have brought forward their report looking at the expenditure around the Circuit of Wales, and just before I ask you the question, I'm sure you'll join me in congratulating the Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, who announced that he and his wife are expecting their first child in a few months' time.
When you look at this report, it really does make for depressing reading, to say the least. It doesn't look at the policy position in fairness, because that's not the Public Accounts Committee's role; it looks at the expenditure of money. It indicates a lack of ministerial oversight on many of the decisions that were taken, and press releases that were put out were contrary to the evidence that the committee then uncovered that showed that the department was aware of what was going on with this money. You are head of the Government. How on earth can a Government department operate in such circumstances as the report identifies today, which basically indicates that the department was being run by the officials rather than the Minister?