The Secretary of State for Wales (Alun Cairns)
On March 2017, the Government reached agreement with the Welsh Government and the four local authorities on a heads of terms city deal for the Swansea Bay city region to bring almost £1.3 billion of investment to the region, which is expected to create in excess of 9,000 jobs.
Since this time good progress has been made on developing a number of the projects within the overall deal programme. However, with no individual business cases yet approved I have today commissioned a joint independent review with the Welsh Government which will underpin the next phase of delivery.
This review will be independently led and will report to both the UK and Welsh Governments. It will consider a range of factors to provide a stocktake on progress to date as well as assurance that all elements of the deal are on track to deliver the full economic benefits of this ambitious programme. It will also consider matters of due diligence and governance, to ensure that oversight and compliance are robust. Its recommendations will inform future decisions on the release of Government funding as well as providing potential private investors with additional confidence across the deal as a whole.
Work on further developing individual projects will continue in parallel with the review.
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