Diolch, Llywydd.

With less than 70 days until the UK is due to leave the EU, and with the prospect of a 'no deal' Brexit still firmly on the table, we have a responsibility to take precautionary measures as part our Brexit preparations, and this includes our planning for civil contingencies. A civil contingencies response will normally deal with an event that threatens to damage human welfare, the environment or security. In essence, civil contingencies plans and mitigations are engaged as a last resort when wider business-as-usual preparedness and contingency planning has failed or is unable to deal with the scale or seriousness of an event.

During the course of this afternoon, my Cabinet colleagues have outlined many aspects of our Brexit preparedness work and the escalation of 'no deal' planning. Our intention is to ensure that business continues as usual on 30 March and beyond, whether the UK leaves the EU with a deal or without. Good civil contingency planning will help us to prepare for the reasonable worst-case scenarios, and will help to ensure that our public and emergency services are best placed to continue providing the services that we and the most vulnerable in our communities rely on every day.