Written question WQ84624

The Non-Domestic Rates (NDR) grants were delivered by Local Authorities in Wales. As trusted partners of the Welsh Government we relied on the professionalism and audits undertaken by the local authorities to ensure that no fraudulent claims were made. We receive copies of all relevant audit reports and assurances from the Section 151 officers.

When making emergency loans through the Covid-19 Wales Business Loan Scheme (CWBLS) the Development Bank of Wales (DBW) took steps to speed up the delivery of funding while maintaining identity verification procedures to a high standard. This robust approach by the DBW has help safeguard public funds. To be eligible for CWBLS, a business had to be trading for over 2 year and the DBW applied standardised personal guarantees at a maximum of 20% and capped at £25,000 on loans, (though never supported by the applicant’s principle private residence) which along with identity verification, mitigated some of the risks of pace in delivery.

An unique online and digital application was developed and implemented to process applications for the Economic Resilience Fund (ERF)., which included built in Artificial Intelligence checks to manage fraud and duplication. It is conditioned and subject to post completion monitoring, which gives us the ability to claw back any money wrongly paid.

An internal project team lead on the Post Completion Monitoring (PCM) on the ERF and consists of 10 officials for a 2 year period. In cases where terms and conditions aren’t complied with recovery action is undertaken.

Throughout the ERF phases information was shared with other agencies (including HMRC) and our own internal Welsh Government departments such as the Grant Centre of Excellence, Head of Governance and Head of Counter Fraud.