A SENIOR Welsh Government official has defended the means by which public money was invested into the Circuit of Wales project.

Giving evidence to the Assembly public accounts committee, James Price - deputy permanent secretary of the economy, skills and natural resources group of the Welsh Government - admitted lessons can be learned, but told committee members: “I think the officers involved adhered to the process in place at the time and did their best to manage public money.

“I also think we have learned lessons that will enable us to do it better next time around.”

Mr Price was giving evidence today following a recent critical report by the Wales Audit Office which concluded that the Welsh Government’s appraisal of information upon which it based a decision to make a £2 million grant was “flawed”.

The report also said monitoring of the use of the cash fell short, and raised concerns over the purchase by Heads of the Valleys Development Company of motorcycle chassis firm FTR Moto, bought in 2012 using part of the grant.

FTR Moto went bust last year, and its purchase was deemed “inconsistent with the grant scheme’s purpose”.

The Welsh Government also had pay £7.3m to the development company’s bank after it recalled a loan the firm could not repay.

Mr Price believes “the level of due diligence done right at the beginning was proportionate for what we were looking at”.

He did not believe mistakes were made, but added: “We have learned lessons that will protect us from things that could go wrong.”

A Welsh Government decision on whether to underwrite a significant part of the cost of the £425m project is expected tomorrow.