£2.5m grant at centre of leisure village probe
University academics suspended
A £2.5 MILLION Welsh Government grant to Swansea University was to be passed on to a not-forprofit private company the university has no control over, we can reveal.
The company and the way the grant was to be handled are now part of an investigation that has involved the suspensions of the university’s vicechancellor and the dean of its school of management.
One of the suspended academics is Professor Marc Clement, of Llanelli.
A£2.5M Welsh Government grant to Swansea University was to be passed on to a not-for-profit private company the university has no control over, we can reveal.
The company, called Respiratory Innovation Wales Limited, and the way the grant was to be handled are now part of an investigation that has involved the suspensions of the university’s vicechancellor and the dean of its school of management.
One of the suspended academics, Professor Marc Clement, was a director of the company and resigned on December 3, a week after his suspension was announced by the university.
Vice-chancellor Richard B Davies and two other unnamed academics were also suspended as part of the investigation instigated by Swansea University’s council, chaired by Sir Roger Jones.
In a statement, Swansea University confirmed Respiratory Innovation Wales had been set up to receive the grant but said it was “no longer involved in the Respiratory Innovation project”.
It would not comment on whether it was normal practice to transfer grants to third parties.
The Welsh Government said that following questions raised by the university earlier this year, it had agreed not to pay the grant.
The grant had been announced by Health Secretary Vaughan Gething in June this year and was heralded as a way of funding a centre to test ways of tackling respiratory illness.
It is understood that the centre would have been based in the proposed £200 million Life Sciences and Wellbeing Village project at Llanelli.
The Wellbeing Village project is seeking £40m in backing from the £1.3 billion City Deal for the Swansea Bay City Region.
Respiratory Innovation Wales itself said on its website that it “allows access to initiatives funded by the UK Government’s industrial strategy such as the Llanelli Wellbeing Village”.
Professor Clement is credited as being the architect of the Llanelli project, that was previously known as the Life Sciences and Wellness Village.
Respiratory Innovation Wales was set up in September this year. Professor Clement was appointed a founding director on September 19, before resigning on December 3.
Another director appointed on September 19 is Kevin Smith, the company’s chief executive, who had resigned a week earlier as a director of another company that had been appointed to help develop the Wellbeing Village in Llanelli.
The company, Sterling Security Holdings, had been appointed through an EU tendering process in which it was the only bidder.
It was ditched as the wellbeing village’s development partner last month.
The £200 million wellbeing village is a joint collaboration between Carmarthenshire Council, Swansea University, the University of Wales Trinity Saint David and Hywel Dda and Abertawe Bro Morgannwg university health boards.
The entire project is being audited by Swansea University’s registrar and chief operating officer Andrew Rhodes. The Auditor General for Wales has also confirmed he is to hold an investigation into Carmarthenshire Council’s decision-making process into the project.
In a recently leaked letter from Professor Clement’s solicitors Capital Law to the council of the university they say that their client “vehemently denies any wrongdoing.”
The letter from Capital Law also says: “Following the School of Management receiving an offer of a £2.5 million research grant from Welsh Government with a strict 28-day limit for an acceptance responses Mr Rhodes avoided any contact with our client until the very end of the 28-day period, despite being repeatedly chased, where he then raised 44 questions to the Welsh Government, many of which were not relevant to the process. This resulted in the loss of grant and a direct impact on our client.” It is understood that those questions from Mr Rhodes were formulated based on external legal advice.
Asked a series of questions over Respiratory Innovation Wales, Swansea University said in a statement: “Respiratory Innovation Wales was a company limited by guarantee set up to receive £2.5 million in Welsh Government research funding, which would be passed through the university.
“The wellbeing village was described as being a future location for the company and its research work. RIW was not owned by the university, but would have received money paid from Welsh Government via the university.
“RIW would have had direct control of this grant money.
“The grant was not discussed by council [of the university], nor would it be expected to be.
“The university is no longer involved in the Respiratory Innovation project. Any other questions relating to the grant are a matter for Welsh Government.”
Swansea University wouldn’t comment on how unusual or usual it was for grant funding applications to public bodies, such as the Welsh Government, made on behalf on the university with the intention of it then being passed to a company in which it had no equity or nominated directors - or members if a not for profit venture.
However, it confirmed that the grant application was overseen by Professor Clement and that Mr Davies was aware of the grant application to the Welsh Government.
The university said that Professor Clement had registered his directorship of RIW as an outside interest with the registrar.
A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “Following questions raised by Swansea University earlier this year it was agreed by both parties that the grant in question would not be paid to them.”
The UK and Welsh Government last month announced an external and rapid review into the whole City Deal for the Swansea Bay City Region.
Carmarthenshire Council’s executive board has also confirmed an independent review into the Life Sciences and Wellbeing project.
And the Auditor General for Wales, Adrian Crompton, has confirmed he is undertaking a review of the decision making of the council relating to the Wellbeing project.
Professor Clement was contacted for comment through his solicitors Capital Law. They responded by saying: “I’m afraid that Swansea University have gagged Professor Clement and forbidden him from dealing with the media while what they call an investigation is under way.”
Professor Clement is a former director of Kent Neurosciences, but resigned in August 2015, before the company entered into a 10-month exclusivity deal with Carmarthenshire Council to be the Wellbeing Village’s development partner in 2016. Kent Neurosciences was dissolved early this year.