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Welsh Government to release Tai Cantref report to committee
The Welsh Government will release its secret report on mismanagement at a 1,400-home housing association to its Public Accounts Committee later this year, a politician has revealed.
Labour AM Lee Waters, who sits on the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in Wales, revealed the move in comments to Inside Housing.
The report on Tai Cantref followed a statutory inquiry into the housing association, which later led to its controversial merger with Cardiff-based Wales & West.
It is understood to highlight evidence of mismanagement at the association but has never been released, despite Freedom of Information Act requests from Inside Housing.
A spokesperson for the Welsh Government said it had not yet agreed to provide the committee with the report.
The PAC has been undertaking an inquiry into the regulation of housing associations, with its recommendations expected to appear in May.
Mr Waters also said the committee will be carrying out a further inquiry looking more closely at the Tai Cantref saga once the report has been disclosed to the committee.
At this stage, the report will be released to the committee, but it is not yet clear if it will be made publicly available.
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Mr Waters said: “We have decided that it is going to be a two-part inquiry. For the second we are going to come back to Cantref later on in the summer.
“The government came back to us last week to say they can only offer a heavily redacted version at this stage but they will give a full version in the summer and we will come back to that.”
The merger between Tai Cantref and Wales & West following the Welsh Government’s report was discussed at length during evidence sessions in the PAC’s recent inquiry.
It had faced local opposition due to complaints about the size of Wales & West, its Cardiff location and concerns about the Welsh language.
Senior civil servants told the inquiry that the Welsh Government made “an appropriate judgement” in respect to the Tai Cantref case.
Mr Waters added: “I didn’t find the Welsh Government evidence particularly convincing so I will want to revisit some of those issues.”
In a statement, the Welsh Government said: “We are aware of the committee’s interest in the report and are considering how we can assist it in its work.
“We are currently exploring the impact of the Data Protection Act in relation to this matter.”
UPDATE AT 14:10 21/03/17: The story was updated to include a statement from the Welsh Government.