Senedd sketch: No finger pointing but questions continue over £4.5m Green Man purchase

Siân Williams

Welsh Government will “look to learn lessons” from their purchase of a £4.5 million farm to hold the Green Man Festival in Powys.

Those were the words of Lesley Griffiths, Trefnydd and Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales who took First Minister’s Questions (FMQs) on behalf of Mark Drakeford yesterday (7 February).

At the end of January, a letter from the Auditor General about the purchase of Gilestone Farm in Tal-y-bont on Usk was discussed at the Senedd Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee.

Leader of the Opposition and Welsh Conservative Andrew RT Davies had read the letter, he told the Senedd yesterday.

Mr RT Davies – whose second job is that of a farmer -  has also taken note of recent objections to his finger pointing during FMQs.

He has now adopted a poise similar to that of an auctioneer at a sale of spring lambs.

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No minutes

Mr Davies told Senedd members that the Auditor General’s report, “Made for interesting reading.

“The description made by the risk assessment board of Welsh Government was that the process used to buy Charleston farm was ‘novel’.”

After a failed attempt at humour, Mr Davies continued: “The report identifies six meetings over the period key decision were made with officials and the Green Man festival … not one single note or minute were taken of those meetings.

He asked Lesley Griffiths: “Can you think of a (similar) situation where an interested party would be so heavily engaged with discussions where they could potentially be the beneficiary of such considerable public funds and not a single note or minutes of six meetings were taken?”

Ms Griffiths, who said she’s avid note taker herself said there were many positives in the Auditor General’s letter.

“Which I’m sure you won’t welcome” she said to Mr Davies, before continuing.

“Sometimes we need to be a bit more innovative. Government by its very nature is risk averse and that’s right when you’re dealing with public money. I didn’t see anything in that letter that said we didn’t (follow due process).”

£4.5 million

Mr Davies was not going to be blown off course, and said: “Here we have an intervention by the Welsh Government of £4.5 million and you cannot pin point a single note or minute between the potential benefactory and the government officials … the same government officials commissioned the valuers and the legal firm to undertake the work without the Minister’s advice.”

The Minister being Vaughan Gething in this instance.

Mrs Griffiths said there had been discussions with the Green Man Festival for some time leading up to the purchase of Gilestone Farm.

She said: “The high-level business case provided was enough to progress with the purchase … We will look to learn lessons, there are always lessons to be learned.”

730 redundancies

Ynys Môn MS Rhun ap Iorwerth reminded the Senedd of the imminent job losses at the 2Sisters poultry processing factory in Llangefni.

He said: “It is now almost a fortnight after the announcement of the consultation … it is crucial that the priority is to see whether there is anything that can be done to make the company change its mind.

“We must also, simultaneously be prepared for the worst. We are talking about the huge impact on the community – 3% of the workforce on Anglesey.

“The response must be swift and significant from Welsh and UK Government because so much of … this is the result of Brexit and energy cost and the cost of living. Ministers in London and Cardiff need to make statements of significant financial support.”

Ms Griffiths to a large extent just repeated what she’d said in last week’s FMQs on this matter and proceeded to go around in circles:

“You are quite right we do need to prepare for the worst … it would have been helpful had we had some prior knowledge…we worked quite closely with that plant particularly over the covid pandemic when they had a (Covid) outbreak … disappointed ….”

“A taskforce has now been set up … This is another example isn’t it where Brexit, inflation and the energy crisis are having a detrimental effect on all of our communities, creating a perfect storm …”

Mr ap Iorwerth looked frustrated with her response and by now was gesturing with his hand in her direction.

In the meantime, Mrs Griffiths concluded: “These are real people who have been affected by this so, once again we urge the UK Government to act quickly to support Welsh businesses …”

Good luck with that one Minister!