The Welsh Assembly Government has started recruiting key financial professionals to deliver a crucial capital investment programme. The ‘One Wales' project commits the assembly government to the creation of a Strategic Capital Investment Board (SCIB) to control a dedicated £400m fund for capital investment projects over the next three years. The board, which will be made up of an independent advisory panel, will have a vital role in deciding budgets. Ministers hope it will find new ways of accessing capital finance, particularly from private capital, and secure improvements in procurement and project management. One Wales sets out 228 specific commitments to be delivered by April 2011, to improve the quality of life of people in all of Wales' communities. Andrew Davies, minister for finance and public service delivery, said: ‘The investment board is about joined-up government and delivering better value from the resources available to us. It will control £400m to be invested in public services in Wales, and this sum is expected to grow in future as the board makes its mark.' The four-year programme forms the centre of coalition arrangements between Labour and Plaid Cymru. Finding new funding schemes is a critical issue for the assembly which currently has to rely heavily on the grant from central government, handed down by the Welsh secretary.
