A SENEDD scrutiny committee has today charged the Welsh government with losing £155 million through financial mismanagement.

The public accounts and public administration committee claimed in its report published today that significant funds for essential public services had been lost.

The figure of £155 million is the difference between the balance of the Wales reserve on 1 April 2021 — £505.5m and the limit of only holding £350m in the reserves.

According to the report, the Welsh government appeared to have assumed that the Westminster Treasury would give flexibility to use the money, as it had done in the past.

Committee chair Mark Isherwood said: “We are very concerned that significant funding was lost to Wales as a result of the underspend in 2020-21. 

“This money could have been used to fund essential services and it is especially frustrating now when there are such pressures on public funding.

“It is one of many examples where poor record keeping and mismanagement of public accounts has cost the people of Wales.” 

The Welsh government welcomed the scrutiny report but it hit back and placed the blame on the UK government.

A spokesperson said: “The finance minister has made clear that the actions of the UK Treasury on this issue were wholly unacceptable. 

“The Treasury’s arbitrary application of its guidance in this instance was deeply regrettable and left Wales deprived of £155m.

“Our underspend during the exceptional 2020-21 financial year were significantly below UK departments and our focus on achieving value for money meant we didn’t have the scandals of PPE contracts we saw in England.”