Finance Committee

Y Pwyllgor Cyllid

To Consultees

Cardiff Bay Cardiff CF99 1NA 2 February 2012

A call for evidence – Prudential Borrowing and innovative approaches to capital funding.

The Finance Committee is calling for information to help inform our inquiry into the use of prudential borrowing by Welsh local authorities and other organisations and innovative approaches to capital funding.  Our findings will be shared with the Silk Commission, to help their work on financial accountability.

The inquiry’s Terms of Reference

The purpose of this inquiry is to consider aspects of financing and funding of devolution in Wales with a view to informing the Part 1 report of the Silk Commission. The Committee will explore the following two specific issues:

· The extent to which the Welsh Government could be granted borrowing powers, looking at lessons learnt from the experience of local authorities current borrowing powers; and

· Consider innovative mechanisms which could be utilised by the Welsh Government to lever capital funds for infrastructure projects, without negatively impacting on the Welsh block, including the extent to which current borrowing powers of local authorities and other organisations could be utilised.

The Committee would welcome your views on any or all of the following points:

¡ measures taken by local authorities to determine and keep under review their prudential borrowing limits and how this is undertaken;

¡ differing levels of prudential borrowing used by local authorities in Wales and any reasons for such differences;

¡ an overview of the nature of projects for which unsupported borrowing has been used, and whether there are particular reasons for such;

¡ lessons learned from local authorities on prudential borrowing including the long term impact of repayments;

¡ how local authority borrowing could be used to boost the levels of capital available for Welsh infrastructure;

¡ any alternative measures being considered by local authorities to finance capital expenditure;

¡ alternative mechanisms of levering capital funding being considered by the Welsh Government in the preparation of their Infrastructure Plan, including the possibility of boosting borrowing by local authorities and other organisations;

¡ exploring innovative capital models proposed elsewhere in the UK, how these have been developed, utilised, and, where possible, how they have performed.

Providing information to the Committee

Interested parties are invited to submit written evidence to the Clerk of the Finance Committee at the above address, to arrive by Thursday 1  March 2012. If you wish to contribute but are concerned that you won’t be able to meet this deadline, please speak with the Clerk of the Committee on 029 2089 8597.

If possible, please supply an electronic version in MS Word or Rich Text format, by e mail to FinanceCommittee@wales.gov.uk by Thursday 1 March 2012.

Disclosure of Information

Witnesses should be aware that once written evidence has been submitted to the Committee it is treated as the property of the Committee.

The Committee welcomes contributions in English or Welsh, and we ask organisations with Welsh Language policies/schemes to provide bilingual submissions, in line with their public information policies.

It is the Committee’s intention to place written evidence on its website, and it may subsequently be printed with the report. The National Assembly will not publish information which it considers to be personal data with the exception of personal opinion and personal data relating to your identity as author of the evidence and the capacity, if any, in which you provide the evidence (for example, a job title).

However, in the event of a request for information (which includes personal data) being submitted under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, it may be necessary to disclose, in whole or in part,  personal data that you provide. This may include personal data which has previously been removed by the National Assembly for publication purposes (as described in the paragraph above).

If you are providing any information, other than personal data, which you feel is not suitable for public disclosure, or if you do not wish your identity, as author of the evidence, to be disclosed, this must be clearly identified and it is up to you to stipulate which parts should not be published, and to provide a reasoned argument to support this. The National Assembly will take this into account when publishing information or responding to requests for information.

Further information about the Finance Committee and its call for information can be found at: www.assemblywales.org

Yours sincerely

Jocelyn Davies

Chair, Finance Committee

Annex 1

Welsh Government

Colleges Wales

The Princes Trust

Wales Council for Voluntary Action

Bevan Foundation

Cymru Yfory

Economic and Social Research Council

Joseph Rowntree Foundation

Jobcentre Plus

Finance Wales

Big Lottery Fund

Hyfforddiant Parys Training

Careers Wales Association

Cyrenians Cymru

Wales Co operative Centre

Remploy Limited

Regeneration Investment Fund for Wales LLP

Cymdeithas Tai Eryri

Forestry Commission Wales

Menter Mon

Chwarae Teg

UK Steel Enterprise Limited

Parc Busnes Treorci

Sustrans

Higher Education Funding Council for Wales

Countryside Council for Wales

Skills for Justice

Ymddiriedolaeth Nant Gwrtheyrn

Waste and Resources Action Programme

Constructing Excellence in Wales

National Trust

Coalfields Regeneration Trust

Wales Co-operative Centre

Pakistan Association of Newport & Gwent Welsh Asian Council

Local Authorities

Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council

Bridgend County Borough Council

Caerphilly County Borough Council

Cardiff County Council

Carmarthenshire County Borough Council

Ceredigion County Council

City and County of Swansea

Conwy County Borough Council

Denbighshire County Borough Council

Flintshire County Borough Council

Gwynedd Council

Isle of Anglesey County Council

Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council

Monmouthshire County Borough Council

Neath Port Talbot County Council

Newport City Council

Pembrokeshire County Council

Powys County Council

Rhondda Cynon Taff County Borough Council

Torfaen County Borough Council

Vale of Glamorgan Council

Wrexham County Borough Council

Further Education Colleges

Barry College

Bridgend College

Coleg Ceredigion

Coleg Glan Hafren

Coleg Gwent

Coleg Harlech

Coleg Llandrillo Cymru

Coleg Menai

Coleg Morgannwg

Coleg Powys

Coleg Sir Gâr

Deeside College

Gower College Swansea

Llysfasi College

Merthyr Tydfil College

Neath Port Talbot College

Pembrokeshire College

St David's Catholic College

Yale College Wrexham

Ystrad Mynach College

Official Agencies

Care Council for Wales

Children's Commissioner for Wales

Older People’s Commissioner for Wales

Equality and Human Rights Commission

Health and Safety Executive

Wales Audit Office

Welsh Language Board

Welsh Local Government Association

Universities

University of Wales

Aberystwyth University

Swansea University

University of Glamorgan

Bangor University

Cardiff Business School

Other

CBI Wales/Cymru

Alliance of Sector Skills Councils Wales

Wales TUC

Federation of Small Businesses

Venture Wales

NESTA

Housing Organisations

All Wales Chief Housing Panel (AWCHOP)

All Wales Housing Technical Panel

Age Cymru

Agorfa Cefni

Cadwyn Housing Association

Caerphilly CBC

Cardiff Council

Ceredigion Rural Housing Enabler

Chartered Institute of Housing Cymru

Citizens' Advice Bureau

Community Housing Cymru

Council of Mortgage Lenders

Cymdeithas yr laith Gymraeg

Cymorth Cymru

Diverse Cymru

GENuS Consortium

Home Builders Federation

Landlord Accreditation Wales

Leadbitter Western Housing Division

Mid Powys Rural Housing Enabler

Mid-Wales Housing Association

National Landlords Association

NEA Cymru

Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority

Pembrokeshire Housing

Principality Building Society

Professor Steve Wilcox

Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors

Royal Town Planning Institution Cymru

Savills (L&P) Limited

Seren Group

Shelter Cymru

Snowdonia National Park Authority

The National Homelessness Network

The Wallich

TPAS Cyrmu

Wales Co-operative Centre

Welsh Tenants Federation