Part of 2. Questions to the Counsel General and Brexit Minister (in respect of his Brexit Minister responsibilities) – in the Senedd at 2:38 pm on 4 December 2019.
Well, I was referring to your UK party manifesto, which does not give any idea on how they would allocate the funding. So, it would appear that they either haven't read your document or don't agree with it.
But you stated, quite rightly, that Wales must not lose any equivalent funding as a result of leaving the EU and that all decisions regarding this funding must continue to be taken in Wales, as at present. However, at present, it's a requirement of all European funding awards that projects are able to provide full evidence to support all of their expenditure and project activity. Therefore, the Welsh European Funding Office needs to collate and analyse the information and statistics gathered from individual projects, because that European funding is public money, and all projects are subject to a level of audit and verification to ensure both eligibility of expenditure and activities, with checks against programme guidance and individual grant and contract awards, and even the possibility that money could be reclaimed.
So, when we leave the EU, what proposals do you have in place, to ensure that a replacement system is ready to go, with a Welsh UK funding office able to provide full evidence to support all of this expenditure and project activity in accordance with UK single market rules that, by then, hopefully, the four Governments will have agreed to?