Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee

I have one comment to make on the valuation. We were told when it was bought that they bought it at current value. Two people know more about this than me, so please correct me, but farm land values have stayed fairly static for a period of time. They've been up and down, but fairly static, so they should be able to sell it at roughly the price that they paid for it now. Plus or minus 5 per cent I think would be acceptable. If they're getting less than that back, then obviously they paid over the odds. Can I just say, it wasn't a political decision? A politician didn't decide, 'This is how much we want to pay for it.' It was an administration decision, it was a civil servant decision, and the civil servants who came up with that valuation, who said it was right, need to be held to account if it proves to be not.

We can discuss this separately in private later, but the particular point noted here was the offer only to provide these valuations confidentially, when previously they'd be public, and whether we have a view on that.

I think that we could get a valuation, because there are valuers all the time valuing bits of land. We know how many acres it is, we know where it is. They should be able to do a quick calculation of what it's worth.

Well, I think the offer—. They stated they will provide the valuation, so they will tell us what valuations they have, but only confidentially. We can discuss that further.

I'm happy to discuss it further, but I think that what they can tell us is their methodology for valuation. That isn't confidential.

No. Any comments from anyone else? Welcome, Cefin Campbell.

Apologies for being slightly late. I've just left another meeting to come to this.

Thank you. I did explain that you were attending in place of Adam Price. Welcome. Croeso.

Thank you very much.

So, no further comments on this at this point. We'll pick up on this later.