A report by the Assembly’s Public Account’s Committee into the Welsh Government’s flagship anti-poverty programme has warned that the £214m Communities First initiative is not delivering value for money. The Committee condemned a “chronic and long-lasting failure” by the Welsh Government to provide leadership:
The report follows findings by the Wales Audit Office last year that of the £214m spent between 2001 and 2009, £140m had gone to partnerships, mainly to employ staff and run projects.
The committee stated: “Our conclusions are that, overall, the Communities First programme has not delivered good value for the significant amount of public money spent on it, and that this is largely because of weaknesses in the Welsh Government’s construction and management of the programme.”
It acknowledged “some local benefits” had been delivered, but said: “We are particularly concerned that the Welsh Government provides insufficient direction to service providers and is not adequately monitoring the programme.”
Commenting, Welsh Liberal Democrat Assembly Member, Jenny Randerson said: “This is a scathing indictment of the Labour-Plaid Government’s failure to monitor and improve what has always been an approach which focuses too heavily on geography and not enough on individuals. Two-thirds of the money has been spent on administration and staff, when more money should be reaching the people most in need.
“This is a long-running programme and it is unforgivable that no proper analysis has been made by the Government of its effectiveness.”
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