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Red Dragon has lessons for Welsh Government 23/11/2009
The Welsh Government failed to collaborate sufficiently and failed to gather crucial information during the planning of the multi-million pound Red Dragon Project at the St Athan Defence Aviation Repair Agency (DARA) site in South Wales, according to the Public Accounts Committee of the National Assembly for Wales.
The inquiry found the attitudes of the authorities involved, including the Welsh Development Agency, were inconsistent. At times they acted as though the Ministry of Defence wasn’t a public sector body but an independent commercial company. They therefore accepted it would not provide all the financial information necessary to give a full picture of the benefits and the costs. At other times it seemingly assumed crucial information would have been volunteered by the MOD.
Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, Jonathan Morgan AM said: "This is an excellent example of how public sector bodies should not work together.”
While we accept that the basic concept and potential benefits to come from the Red Dragon Project at St Athan were sound, the committee is concerned at the way the Welsh Government, WDA and Ministry of Defence worked the details out.”
The original plan was to spend 134 million pounds building a super-hangar at the airfield for fast jet repairs but the project faltered when the Ministry of Defence pulled out and closed the site.
By this time the Welsh Assembly Government, the Welsh Development Agency and the MOD had already committed funds to the project and the net cost to the public purse was put at 113 million pounds.
However the committee heard the project isn’t a complete write-off with hope that a defence training academy may be based there creating up to four thousand new jobs and a further two thousand posts created through a new aerospace park.
"We welcome the comments of the Permanent Secretary to the Welsh Government, Dame Gillian Morgan, that lessons have been learned from this project,” said Mr Morgan.
"But the Committee also recognises that there is still some uncertainty as a result of devolution about the way in which public bodies should work tighter on a project of this kind. The Committee urges the Welsh Government to continue to seek clarity and agreement with the Treasury and other Government Departments on these issues.”
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