First Minister Gething Accused of Breaking Regulations Over £1bn Cancer Centre Approval
Campaigners say First Minister Vaughan Gething and two Cabinet colleagues broke Welsh Government rules. They approved a new £1bn cancer centre for south Wales without proper checks. The Colocate Velindre group opposes the standalone centre in Cardiff. They believe it should be next to a district general hospital. They also say the Welsh Government ignored procurement rules. Two companies in the construction consortium, Acorn, were convicted of bid-rigging.
A Colocate Velindre spokesperson expressed confusion about the rush to approve the contract. “It remains a mystery why there was a sudden rush to approve execution of the contract for the new Velindre Cancer Centre. The announcement came without warning on the eve of a two-week Senedd recess and politics shutdown through early April,” they said. This low-key announcement was surprising given its significance as Vaughan Gething’s major project since his tenure as Health Secretary.
The group says the final stage of mandatory scrutiny was skipped. This stage checks the project’s Full Business Case (FBC). “The final business case especially covers the crucial value-for-money case demanded of the whole MIM scheme,” the spokesperson said.
The Welsh Government’s Mutual Investment Model (MIM) has strict rules. The spokesperson stated, “The government’s own MIM detailed regulations are particularly rigorous about the last hurdle’s strict necessity. And this final case must undergo a Gateway Review process and scrutiny by Audit Wales before it can get government approval and funding. Yet not, apparently, in its own case.”
The project, capped at nearly £1bn, will fund only a modest infrastructure and mainly outpatient treatment centre. The decision to proceed without following standard procedures has raised concerns and set a worrying precedent for future public contracts in Wales.
The Deputy Chief Executive (DCE) of Velindre explained to the Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee (PAPAC) of the Senedd that the deviation from standard procedures was to avoid incurring debt to the Acorn contractor before the final stage of the process. However, this explanation has been met with scepticism. “It stretches credulity to snapping point that the ministers were blissfully unaware of the Auditor General’s scrutiny, poised and waiting, reinforced by alignment with the PAPAC’s other probing,” said the Colocate Velindre spokesperson.
In addition to procedural issues, campaigners have raised concerns about the involvement of Sacyr and Kajima, two companies within the Acorn consortium with past bid-rigging convictions. Legal advice suggested that Sacyr was eligible to tender because there were no active legal proceedings against them at the time. However, Sacyr had previously received penalties from the Portuguese competition authority for similar offences within the statutory reporting period for the tendering process.
The spokesperson for Colocate Velindre argued, “The main point is that Sacyr seems to have failed to report the sanction, or its tender would not have won. At the very least there are too many unresolved obstacles to Sacyr receiving ‘self-cleansing’, even if it withdraws from the appeal process.”
The campaigners believe that the involvement of these companies should have led to their exclusion from the contract. “Procurement regulations do allow termination of tenders mid-process when conditions change, relevant convictions occur, or promises are broken,” the spokesperson emphasized, calling for a complete reversal of the decision.
Responding to the allegations, a Welsh Government spokesperson asserted, “There has been substantial internal and external assurance undertaken at all stages of the new Velindre Cancer Centre scheme over the years, and an essential and consistent part of our scrutiny has been to deliver a value-for-money project. We are assured that relevant procurement rules and regulations have been applied correctly throughout the process.”
A spokesperson for Velindre University NHS Trust added, “The development of the new Velindre Cancer Centre is critical in safeguarding the provision of crucial treatment and care for the 1.5 million people of south Wales over the coming decades. It will allow us to keep pace with increasing demand as the number of people referred to us with cancer grows every year. The current cancer centre is more than 68 years old and does not have the facilities or space necessary to meet the future needs of patients.”
The controversy surrounding the approval process for the new Velindre Cancer Centre continues to unfold, with campaigners urging greater transparency and adherence to established procedures to ensure the project’s integrity and value for the people of Wales.