‘Disbelief’ at appointment of new Auditor General for Wales

Martin Shipton

A former Welsh Government-appointed member of the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park Authority has expressed disbelief at the appointment of its chief executive as the new Auditor General for Wales.

Christopher Coppock, a consultant in the cultural sector who served on the authority for four years, would like incoming Senedd Members to consider the implications of his concerns.

We have seen a statement written by Mr Coppock in which he says the appointment of Catherine Mealing-Jones as Auditor General came against the backdrop of a report in Nation Cymru on March 26 that the national park is “in danger of going bust within three years”.

Mr Coppock writes: “As a former Welsh Government-appointed member of the then Brecon Beacons National Park Authority (BBNPA), from 2018 to 2022, I have a personal interest in the fate of the national park, having resigned in 2022 because I did not believe it was being led in a way that would deliver its statutory purposes.

“In October 2025 I began extended correspondence with Audit Wales concerning the efficacy of BBNPA’s use of public money – having read a series of their highly critical reports in relation to the authority in recent years.

“Catherine Mealing-Jones was appointed as the new Chief Executive of BBNPA in July 2021. The CEO’s clear brief, in implementing Board-accepted recommendations by Audit Wales, was to expedite ‘The Change Programme’ – a mandate to transform the culture of the organisation, the poor management, plummeting staff morale, and weaknesses in leadership and governance.

“Over the years of the CEO’s tenure, Audit Wales regularly reported that progress in effecting the major structural and cultural changes was poor. Such were their concerns that, as recently as February 2025, Audit Wales wrote to the CEO and the then Chair of the Authority. The letter – entitled Progress in delivering the Auditor General’s Statutory Recommendations – was damning. Their conclusion was: ‘We have found that a lack of organisational capacity and resilience presents a significant risk to the future sustainability of the Authority and its ability to deliver the Auditor General’s recommendations.’

“Recommendations that were first made in 2021. As I understand it some of those recommendations have yet to be implemented and will become the responsibility of the next CEO. Implementation will again be subject to review by Audit Wales under the leadership of the very person who had failed to do so over five years!

“When I learnt of Catherine Mealing-Jones’ preferred candidacy to become Auditor General for Wales in January 2026, I read with interest the transcript of the Senedd’s Finance Committee Meeting on 29 January 2026 which conducted her final interview in relation to the appointment.

“During that interview, Adam Price MS asked some searching questions. In particular, his concern that BBNPA had twice failed to deliver audited accounts by the statutory deadline. I thought the answer was deeply ironic: ‘We had quite a significant backlog on the Audit Wales performance audit for my organisation as well’.

“I also noted a couple of Mike Hedges MS’s salient questions, with one in particular standing out: ‘What experience do you have in public sector audits and the requirements for them?’

“Catherine’s answer indicated that her experience is limited (as was her professional experience of countryside management when she joined the national park): ‘My experience of public sector audit, my primary experience is as a board member and, obviously, latterly, chief executive of an organisation that is audited by Audit Wales, and then in past organisations by other independent external auditors.’

“Being audited and being an auditor – let alone the most senior public sector auditor in Wales – require two very different approaches and skill sets.

“I submitted an FOI request to the Welsh Government asking if the two committees that endorsed Catherine’s application for the role of Auditor General had had access to Audit Wales reports to inform their assessment as to her suitability. I was informed that: ‘We hold no information in relation to your request.’

“I am also concerned at the apparent lack of interest of those civil servants with direct responsibility for the national park. Almost all of the Audit Wales reports on BBNPA, going back to at least 2020, highlight the fact that Welsh Government-appointed members had, throughout the course of their tenure as national park board members, persistently expressed concern that they had never received feedback from those civil servants about their own efficacy or any other meaningful communication about their performance. It appears that this is still the case, so one wonders what purpose it serves for Audit Wales to keep recommending something that appears to be consistently ignored by the civil servants, who are duty bound to follow up audit recommendations.

“I mention this because when I resigned, I asked one of the responsible civil servants for an exit interview. This was blankly refused on the basis that, even though I was a Welsh Government appointee, I was not an employee of the Welsh Government.

“I was wholly bemused by this response, not least because, at the same time, three other expert members out of the six appointed by the Welsh Government – each of whom, like myself, was fundamentally and passionately committed to the objectives of the national park – were not reappointed. Those who appointed us appeared to have little interest in or professional curiosity about the reasons why this cohort (66% of the Welsh Government appointees) had left or had not been able to continue their important public service roles at the same time.

“Following my lengthy correspondence with Audit Wales, a number of weeks ago I wrote to the Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee of the Senedd asking it to carry out an investigation into the use of public funds by BBNPA and, by extension, the appointment of Catherine Mealing-Jones to the critical public service role of Auditor General for Wales.

“I am particularly concerned on two counts. Firstly that Catherine Mealing-Jones presided over a public authority that Audit Wales repeatedly affirmed was underperforming and which was in a worse position financially at the end of her tenure than when she arrived.

“Secondly that, in spite of the apparent conflict of interest and without any requirement for a mandatory period of time to elapse between the two roles, the head of a public body which is an audit client is able to move seamlessly into the head job of the very organisation responsible for auditing it.

“Ahead of the election in May, all Senedd committees have now had their final meetings, concluded formal business, and published their legacy reports in advance of dissolution. My correspondence will therefore go forward to the new Public Accounts Committee.

“However I wanted to lodge my concerns during the period of the current administration, as a matter of principle, given what I believe to be the Government’s shocking lack of oversight of the workings of the national park that has taken place on their watch.”

Key concerns

In a statement to Nation.Cymru, Mr Coppock summarised his key concerns as follows:

* That the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park Authority does not represent good value for public money.

* That BBNPA is financially worse off now than when Catherine Mealing-Jones took over the post of CEO in 2021.

* That Audit Wales recommendations over many years have not been fully addressed by BBNPA as required.

* That the Welsh Government and its civil servants have ignored the implications of critical Audit Wales reports over the years and repeatedly failed to address a specific Audit Wales recommendation concerning active and ongoing support for its appointed members.

* That Catherine Mealing-Jones was appointed to the role of Auditor General for Wales without, as I understand it, the appointing committees having access to critical Audit Wales reports during her tenure of the national park.

* That it is not in the public interest to appoint a current auditee of Audit Wales to the post of Auditor General for Wales without a reasonable period of professional distance from running a public organisation as an auditee of Audit Wales.

We asked Audit Wales to comment, but it did not do so.

The Welsh Government is not commenting on matters of political controversy in the pre-Senedd election period.

Ms Mealing-Jones is expected to take up her new post in July, following the departure of the current Auditor General Adrian Crompton.