Devolved Funding: Borrowing Powers and Capital

The Finance Committee considered aspects of the financing and funding of devolution in Wales with a view to informing the Part 1 report of the Silk Commission.  In particular the Committee explored:

• 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.

In the course of the inquiry the Committee considered:

• 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.