Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:20 pm on 5 November 2019.
Well, Llywydd, the external assistance that the board has acquired is, as I've said many times this afternoon, the result of advice provided to the Welsh Government by the Public Accounts Committee, which said that such assistance was urgently needed, and has now been afforded. I don't follow the point that the Member made about, somehow, this not being known. I've got in front of me a freedom of information request, therefore entirely in the public domain. It sets out the job titles, it sets out their appointment dates, it sets out the length of contracts, it tells you the supplier in the market that his party has created, where people have to be sourced from, and it tells you how long the people are going to be in work for. The idea that, somehow, this was not known to people just simply doesn't stand up to examination. And I am sure that all these appointments were done in line with the guidance that the Welsh Government has already provided, informed by the advice that we get from Assembly committees.