6. What discussions has the Counsel General had with the Minister for Economy and Transport regarding preparing businesses in Wales for leaving the EU? OAQ53187

The whole Cabinet is committed to supporting Welsh businesses through Brexit. I attended the Cabinet sub-committee on EU transition in December, where the Minister for Economy and Transport presented a detailed paper on preparing business for Brexit, and we continue to engage closely with businesses across Wales.

Thank you, Counsel General, for that answer. When the previous First Minister was giving evidence to the External Affairs and Additional Legislation Committee a few weeks ago, he said that over 100 businesses in Wales had already engaged with the Welsh Government's Brexit business portal. We know that the landscape post Brexit is so unknown, principally due to the shambolic approach taken by Theresa May with the negotiations. With that in mind, how is the Welsh Government ensuring that the portal is able to deliver accurate legal advice on matters such as exporting and hiring staff?

I thank the Member for that further question. The Minister for the economy launched the portal back in September, I believe it was, and the point of the portal is to provide a diagnostic toolkit for businesses to cover the whole range of potential challenges that might arise in the context of Brexit and to support them in readiness for a post-Brexit world, and, as her question refers to, one of the major issues there is international trading questions and workforce planning questions, both of which are factors that businesses are concerned about in the context of Brexit. The Paratoi Cymru website, which I mentioned earlier, will of course direct businesses to that portal to further highlight its availability and also a range of other measures that the Government have put in place to support businesses through Brexit, and the business resilience fund, funded through the EU transition fund, is a prime example of that.

If I might amplify Vikki Howells's point, the true irony of our current position is that the vast majority of businesses that export into the single market will want to continue to observe the regulatory framework that is set today, and for the future, by the EU.

I've heard what you've said about the preparations, but will you also be working with the likes of the Confederation of British Industry, who have emphasised how important it is that firms, many of them quite small, incidentally, that export, and they are in Wales, sometimes, get that information so that they can observe the legal frameworks of safety and quality design standards and other matters to allow exports to flow as freely, given the situation in terms of whatever we may be in with tariffs and the like? It's really essential they get that information.

Absolutely. One of the strands for the preparedness work has been to identify areas where the characteristics of Wales—in this context, the economic characteristics—might be slightly different from other parts of the UK, and therefore need a particular approach, and, obviously, having a business sector that is so well represented by the SME sector is one of those aspects.

In addition to working with other partners, there is a Brexit-focused Business Wales marketing campaign, which has been launched to raise awareness of exactly the sorts of things that he identifies, and asking businesses to plan, adjust and innovate in their response to Brexit. And that includes a direct call to action to ask companies and businesses to complete the Brexit self-assessment through the diagnostic tool on the portal.

Finally, David Rees.

Diolch, Llywydd. Counsel General, in relation to this matter, clearly the businesses that are being helped in the main through the portal are mainly exporters, but there's a lot of supply chain businesses in that link. What discussions are you having with the businesses to look at their supply chains to ensure the supply chains are also supported in this process? Because we rely very much upon some of those other businesses to keep going, and automotive is an example. There are many automotive component companies in Wales that may not be directly exporting but supply to companies that do.

Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, that's absolutely the case and that is part and parcel of the advice that is provided through the portal. The reality of the situation is that many businesses aren't actively planning yet for the consequences of Brexit. The First Minister, the Minister for the economy, have recently called on businesses to ensure they are doing all they can to actively engage and actively prepare for Brexit. And I'll take this opportunity, if I may, to add to those calls for businesses to do that.

Thank you to the Counsel General.