6. What structures does the Welsh Government have in place to monitor the use of grant funding awarded to projects in Wales? OQ58252

Monitoring is a key part of Welsh Government's grant processes. Grant managers have flexibility to tailor monitoring requirements according to the size, value and risk of projects. Monitoring requirements are set out in the grant award letter terms and conditions, which form the legally binding agreement between Welsh Government and recipients.

Thank you. Well, in contrast to my colleague there about how good the UK Government are when handing money out, the Welsh Government, certainly in my time—I’ve been here 11 years—and prior to that since devolution, have wasted millions and millions of pounds: £221 million on uncompetitive enterprise zones; £9.3 million on flawed initial funding—[Interruption.] I know it hurts, but let me finish. Nine point three million pounds on flawed initial funding for the Circuit for Wales; £157 million on the M4 relief road inquiry; £750,000 in the last financial year on the grounded Anglesey to Cardiff flight link; and, in my own constituency, £400,000 on G.M. Jones, and that was to build bespoke units in Llanrwst that up until very recently had been empty right from build. That business actually is no longer, because of the implications of the higher cost. I could go on, but the latter example in particular highlights a clear area where I do believe now that money is very tight; we’ve got a sort of cost-of-living crisis.

I raised it in the First Minister’s scrutiny committee, and I asked the First Minister in my question, 'When you’ve handed large sums of money over to these companies, how do you then monitor it?' And the response was very much a case of, 'Once we’ve handed that money over, it really is up to that business.' So, how can you convince me, Minister, that you have got good financial probity at the heart of Welsh Government, so that we do not keep seeing this repeating and a number of times when, actually, you are simply wasting taxpayers' money? Thank you.

Welsh Government issues thousands of award letters every year to a wide range of stakeholders, such as local authorities, the third sector and private sector organisations for a really wide range of purposes, and they are intended to help us drive forward our policy objectives. Monitoring our grant funding is an integral method to ensuring that those projects deliver what is intended, but it is the case that monitoring activities are quite rightly varied and they should be specific to the funding that is being awarded, and those grant managers are responsible for establishing the correct level of monitoring that is needed.

So, a wide range of activities can be used to obtain the assurance that we need that the grant requirements are being met. They can include progress reports, monitoring of targets and milestones, meetings and site visits, written reports, and claims from both the grant recipient and/or an independent third party. And as I said in the response to your first question, those form part of the legally binding award letter and those terms and conditions should be considered from the outset. Grant recipients should only be agreeing to those if they are convinced that they can meet those terms and conditions.

I will say that grant managers are now able to seek advice, support and guidance through a range of sources, including our grants centre of excellence, corporate governance, legal services and their own operations team, so we do have a wide range of support and guidance available to grant managers to ensure that they're able to undertake that monitoring correctly. Active grant monitoring is absolutely key.