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Mick Bates

Press Releases 2006

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Mick Bates will call on the Welsh Assembly Government to ensure taxpayer cash is spent where it can be put to best use in community regeneration projects. The Welsh Liberal Democrat Social Justice spokesperson will say of the Communities First Evaluation Report:

“The Labour Government has ploughed more than £100 million into spending on Communities First, but doesn’t monitor how this money is spent.

“Some Communities First projects are doing great work to help people improve their own environment, create pride in their communities and improve people’s quality of life, and I want to congratulate them.

“However, others programmes are failing to achieve their aims, and the government has no idea of how this money is being spent. It’s being thrown blindly at well-intentioned schemes without gaining results.

“Worse still, nobody knows exactly how much is being spent on work on the ground, in communities.

“It’s unclear how much money has been spent on setting up a framework for projects compared to money spent on the projects themselves. I haven’t seen enough evidence that it’s being on effective community regeneration.

“This is one of a number of problems with the finance behind the report. We have no idea whether or not Communities First money is being spent on projects which are being ‘double-funded’ by other grant-aided sources – that is, being funded twice over.

“Communities First projects involve a large spend from the taxpayer’s purse. The government must ensure we are getting value for money.”