After disclosing the scandalous fact that the Welsh Government had spent over £2million on maintenance and repairs of the Welsh Government building in Llandudno Junction since it was opened in 2010-11, Janet Finch-Saunders, Assembly Member for Aberconwy, has dug deeper into the finances of the Welsh Government, finding that almost £28million was spent by it on repairs and maintenance during the last three financial years.

The information was disclosed to the Member in a letter from Mark Drakeford AM, Cabinet Secretary for Finance, from which the following information has been extracted:

Commenting on her finding, Janet said:

“It is absolutely shocking that almost £28million has been spent by the Welsh Government on maintenance and repairs of buildings it is responsible for during the last three years.

“Whilst I appreciate that the Welsh Government is liable for 430 buildings, and that this includes 124 premises as part of Cadw, I have shown previously that millions are being wasted on the modern constructions in the estate, such as the office in Llandudno Junction.

“With every public penny having to be spent carefully, I believe that an explanation is needed as to what exactly these millions of pounds are going on. At the moment, the spend equates to £64,703.00 on maintenance and repairs over every single building – which includes 9 toilets, which I would therefore expect to have golden taps! 

“On a more serious note, this expenditure really is unjustifiably high as repairs are costing taxpayers and average of £9,274,042.00 annually.

“This cannot continue.  Going forward the Welsh Government needs to justify the size of its estate, and look to reduce state ownership so to release money tied up on repairs of its own buildings”.

ENDS

Written Assembly Question to Mark Drakeford AM, Cabinet Secretary for Finance:

Further to the response to WAQ77181, for 2017/18 will the Cabinet Secretary state how much money was spent on maintenance and repairs for each of the 7 building categories listed in your letter, and review whether the Welsh Government can reduce the size of its estate?  

Document:

Letter to Janet from the Cabinet Secretary for Finance

Notes:

Millions spent on Maintenance of Welsh Government Building