‘£4m loan film-firm civil servant did no wrong’
THE Welsh Government’s top civil servant has decided there was no wrongdoing in the case of a senior civil servant who went to work for a film company that had received a £4m loan from the public purse.
But Permanent Secretary Dame Shan Morgan said there was room for improvement in the way Natasha Hale’s secondment to Bad Wolf was managed.
Ms Hale held senior roles in the Welsh Government in which she was involved in providing financial support to creative organisations as head of creative industries, and later as deputy director of sectors and business.
But she did not have a vote “in any of the associated approvals” when the loan to Bad Wolf was made in 2015.
Ms Hale went on secondment to Bad Wolf from August 2016 until March 31, 2017, “to develop the company’s activities across the industry in Wales in order to benefit the wider community”.
She was subsequently appointed Bad Wolf’s interim chief operating officer.
In August Welsh Conservative Shadow Culture Minister Suzy Davies raised concerns about a potential conflict of interest, and called on the Permanent Secretary to launch an inquiry.
Now Dame Shan has written to Ms Davies saying that a business case needs to be made for any secondment, and an assessment of the potential for a conflict of interest must be carried out.
She said: “In the case of this particular secondment I can confirm that the appropriate processes were put in place. The review found some improvements that could have been made in the management of this secondment, in relation to record keeping; the level of detail and clarity included in documentation; and the guidance and communication issued to relevant secondment.
“The Welsh Government has taken action to put in place the lessons from this report, as we do from all internal audit reports.
“The review was about how the staff on this Welsh Government dealt with this secondment, rather than being about the actions of either Natasha Hale or Bad Wolf, but I can confirm that no evidence was found of any wrongdoing by either party – in fact, the review found that Natasha Hale herself was active in ensuring that the terms of her secondment were properly applied.
“I hope that this letter serves to reassure you about the circumstances of this secondment.”
Ms Davies said: “While I accept the Permanent Secretary’s verdict that there was no wrongdoing on the part of Bad Wolf or the individual in question, her response raises yet more questions about the processes Welsh Government has in place to manage potential conflicts of interest.
“In respect of this secondment, the most reasonable-minded observer would have been justified in believing there could be a conflict of interest given the advantageous information this senior official was privy to, and the high-level decisions they will have been involved in.
“I will be writing to the Permanent Secretary requesting a detailed explanation about the threshold they use in determining what constitutes a conflict of interest.
“If her response does not satisfy my concerns then I will be calling on the First Minister to order an immediate review into how the Welsh Government handles these matters.
“This isn’t the only instance where the Welsh Government has been less than clear on how conflicts of interest are managed.
“If it hopes to restore confidence in how it does business, then it urgently needs to up its game on transparency.”