Janet Finch-Saunders, Member of the Welsh Parliament for Aberconwy, has expressed deep outrage over the Welsh Government's bailout of Natural Resources Wales.
Following an investigation by HMRC into the way NRW hired specialist contractors the Welsh Government has had to use £19m of taxpayers money to settle NRW’s tax bill.
However, with HMRC still investigating and talking to NRW about the final bill, the full amount is rumoured to be much higher.
The investigation undertaken by HMRC revealed that NRW has a ‘potential liability’ relating to specialist contracts. NRW has said they have paid the £19m ‘without any admission of liability’ for unpaid income tax, National Insurance contributions or the apprenticeship levy.
Commenting on the news Janet said:
“This is utterly outrageous. £19m is a vast amount of money and the scale of scandal really reflects the sorry state that NRW finds itself in.
“Even the Deputy First Minister’s statement following the bailout was a clear admission that NRW is not only struggling but that more oversight is needed of NRWs management.
“Clearly something terrible has occurred here and it highlights the poor leadership and management within NRW.
“Too often the hard work of the staff in NRW, who I work with regularly and who are terrific, are being besmirched by the most senior staff within the agency.
“We have not heard the end of this. More money from the public purse is likely going to be needed to bailout the incompetency of NRW’s leaders, so I do believe that serious questions should be asked of NRW’s senior staff.
“If this was a private business, people would be on notice. Why should it be any different in the public sector?”.
ENDS
