Welsh poverty scheme ‘not well monitored’

16 Jul 09
A flagship project to tackle high levels of deprivation in Wales has benefited local communities but work has not been effectively monitored, the Wales Audit Office has said.
By Paul Dicken

16 July 2009

A flagship project to tackle high levels of deprivation in Wales has benefited local communities but work has not been effectively monitored, the Wales Audit Office has said.

On July 9 the WAO published the findings of a study into Communities First, a £214m Welsh Assembly Government programme tackling poverty and deprivation in Wales’ poorest areas.

Launched in 2001, it aims to co-ordinate public services and prioritise work in areas such as health and wellbeing, community safety promotions, youth projects, training courses and environmental clean-ups. This was to be achieved through the use of local partnerships.

But it was not until 2007 that the WAG took steps to monitor whether these partnerships were being run as intended.

The report said the WAG was unable to demonstrate to what extent the initiative was meeting its objectives.

Auditor general for Wales Jeremy Colman said the management of the programme had improved. However, he added that the WAG ‘needs to work much more closely with other public bodies, particularly councils, so they maximise their contribution to the programme. It also needs to improve the priority given to Communities First by its own departments’.

A WAG spokesman said that Communities First was a ‘complex programme and cannot be assessed using simple tick-box measurements’.

He added that it was about helping local people work together rather than imposing government priorities.

Reforms to Communities First came into effect on April 1. They aimed to bring a greater focus to practical solutions to local issues, backed with a £25m fund to develop new activities, services and projects

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