Audit report says the ASPB merger achieved a number of successes but aspects of financial management were unsatisfactory.
The Welsh Assembly Government achieved a number of important successes, in managing the ASPB merger project according to a new report from the Assembly’s Audit Committee. However aspects of financial management during the merger process were unsatisfactory and there are some weaknesses in the measurement of the costs and benefits of the merger project itself.
The Committee’s report on the 2006-07 Consolidated Resource Accounts of the National Assembly for Wales, the first set of accounts since the ASPB mergers, concludes that The Assembly Government has been largely successful in managing the ASPB merger project due to the strengthening of governance arrangements, effective project management, and the commitment and participation of staff across all of the affected organisations.
However the committee has raised concerns that monthly bank reconciliations were not carried out on a timely basis during much of 2007 and that the Assembly Government has encountered post-merger difficulties in processing the increased volume of receipts generated by the operational activities of the former sponsor bodies.
The reported costs of the merger programme were £14.5million, an increase of £2.6million on the projected cost of £11.9million. However these costs are incomplete as they exclude costs that Assembly Government departments had been able to fund from their existing departmental budgets. Assembly Government officials have calculated that the mergers had generated savings of some £3.5million by 31 March 2007, and the committee was told that they expect such efficiency savings to total some £10 million annually from 2009.
However committee members are unconvinced that the forecasts of efficiency savings are soundly-based.
David Melding AM, Chair of the Audit Committee, said: “It is important for the Welsh Assembly Government to strengthen its financial management processes. In particular the Committee believes that stronger governance arrangements are necessary and we call for more external members to serve on Corporate Governance Committees in the WAG. These Committees, which are essential for efficient administration, should be chaired by independent, external appointees.”