Wales Audit Office to Review Superfast Cymru Broadband Deployment

The Wales Audit Office (WAO) has confirmed that it intends to conduct an audit of the Superfast Cymru scheme, which aims to make BT’s faster “fibre broadband” (FTTC/P) speeds of up to 80Mbps available to 96% of Welsh premises by the end of spring 2016.

The £425 million scheme (this figure also includes BT’s prior commercial investment) ultimately aims to benefit around 690,000 homes and businesses in Wales, although like most Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) projects it has faced a mix of competition and financial concerns.

A similar study of the overall BDUK effort, which was last year conducted by the National Audit Office, criticised the project’s delays and lack of “strong competition to protect public value” (here). Similarly the WAO intends to investigate the Welsh schemes effectiveness, financial planning, governance structures, contractual agreements with BT, procurement processes and risk management / monitoring arrangements.

Jeremy Morgan, WAO Inquiry Team Member, told one witness in a letter seen by ISPreview.co.uk:

The Auditor General for Wales [is] currently carrying out a national study on the Welsh Government’s investment in broadband infrastructure. Our examination looks at whether the Welsh Government’s approach to investing in broadband infrastructure for households and businesses is likely to deliver its intended benefits. We shall be looking in detail at the following areas:

• Does the Welsh Government have a coherent strategy for investing in high speed broadband infrastructure in Wales?
• Does the Welsh Government have robust contractual arrangements for Superfast Cymru?
• Are the Welsh Government’s high speed broadband programmes likely to achieve the intended benefits?

As part of the study, we are looking for the views of a range of stakeholders and we understand that this is an area of interest to you and that you have some strong views on the subject. We would welcome the opportunity of speaking to you about our study in the next couple of weeks.

Just to give you some information about the WAO/Auditor General for Wales. The Auditor General for Wales is responsible for auditing the Welsh Government, its sponsored and related bodies and NHS organisations in Wales, as well as appointing auditors to local authorities. He also conducts value-for-money / performance studies on Welsh public bodies including the NHS and education sectors. The staff of the Wales Audit Office undertake audit and inspection work on public sector bodies on behalf of the Auditor General for Wales, to promote improvement and standards of public services.

The move is also interesting because it’s understood that the Auditor General has previously expressed satisfaction with the process, although this does not preclude the need for future reviews that are usually par for the course with such contracts. A final report is expected by the end of this year.