Item 9 on the agenda is the debate on the External Affairs and Additional Legislation Committee's report on Brexit preparedness, and I call on the Chair of that committee to move the motion—David Rees.

Motion NDM6946 David Rees

To propose that the National Assembly for Wales:

1. Notes the report of the External Affairs and Additional Legislation Committee entitled 'Preparing for Brexit—Follow-up report on the preparedness of Welsh ports', which was laid in the Table Office on 26 November 2018.

2. Notes the report of the External Affairs and Additional Legislation Committee entitled 'Preparing for Brexit—Report on the preparedness of the healthcare and medicines sector in Wales', which was laid in the Table Office on 3 December 2018.

3. Notes the report of the External Affairs and Additional Legislation Committee entitled 'Preparing for Brexit—Report on the preparedness of the food and drink sector in Wales', which was laid in the Table Office on 10 December 2018.

Motion moved.

Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. Our motion today asks the National Assembly to note our three reports on the Brexit preparedness of three sectors: ports, healthcare and medicines, and food and drink. They follow on from our report last February, which sought clarification on the Welsh Government's preparations for when the UK left the EU.

Last week we received a series of statements from Ministers on the preparations the Welsh Government are making within their portfolios, specifically in relation to a 'no deal' Brexit. This was unprecedented, and reflects the concerns that exist in our communities and public sector bodies regarding how there would be business and service continuity upon exiting the EU. It is our committee's hope that today will offer an opportunity to debate some of those issues.

These reports lay out, in no uncertain terms, the risk to these three sectors of various Brexit scenarios. And before anyone gets up and says, 'Here we go, project fear again', the committee's reports are based upon evidence received from experts and stakeholders, and that is the basis for our conclusions.

After the rejection of the withdrawal agreement and the political declaration a fortnight ago, it is not alarmist to actually say that we are now facing the real possibility of leaving the European Union without a deal. Now, I appreciate that we are still awaiting the outcome of today's votes in Westminster, which may lead to a deal being agreed together with a political declaration that works for the Welsh economy and Welsh citizens, but we cannot fail to repeat that now-infamous saying, 'The clock is ticking', and we are fast approaching the midnight hour. In fact, if you read the front of our report, the opening lines say:

'With less than five months until the UK leaves the European Union'— today, it is two months before we leave the European Union. Time is moving on.

Now, leaving without a deal is something that our committee has consistently warned against. it is neither necessary nor desirable to sever the ties with Europe in such a disorderly and potentially chaotic way. So, before turning to the content of the reports in detail, it might be worth reminding this Chamber of what we mean by a 'no deal' Brexit, and I'll try and simplify it as much as possible.

Leaving with no deal would see decades of co-operation with the European Union come to an abrupt end. It would have far-reaching consequences for many aspects of life in Wales. In trade terms, it would mean that we erect a myriad of new barriers to trade where none currently exist—everything from new taxes on imports and exports to new checks and barriers at the border. We could lose access to EU agencies and programmes, something that we have been benefiting from for a long time. The clear and overwhelming message that we have received from stakeholders during our time considering these issues has been that 'no deal' should be avoided.

The Llywydd took the Chair.

Llywydd, I will now turn to our three reports in a little bit more detail. The reports being debated today look in depth at some of the issues faced by three sectors—three sectors that are important to the Welsh economy. They also build upon previous reports of the committee. Whilst it would not be possible to consider all of the issues in the time available to me today, I would encourage Members from across the Chamber to study them carefully if you haven't already done so.

Our follow-up report on the implications of Brexit for ports revisits some of the issues we first brought to the attention of the National Assembly in August 2017. We took evidence from stakeholders involved in running Welsh ports, from hauliers, together with representatives from the aviation and tourism sectors. It's worth noting that not only do Welsh ports perform an important function in our modern economy, they actually also support over 18,000 jobs in Wales.

The fundamental issue at Wales's major roll-on, roll-off ports is this: they lack the physical capacity and infrastructure to accommodate new customs and border checks, together with the parking requirements that would be entailed in all of that. That's why we call upon the Welsh Government to publish its contingency plans for managing traffic at Welsh ports should new delays and checks become necessary after 29 March 2019.

While I appreciate that the Welsh Government believes that there may be some aspects of commercial sensitivity in doing this, I welcome subsequent assurances given to me by the Minister for Economy and Transport on this matter. However, it would be helpful if the Government could share this information with us on a confidential basis.

On 'no deal', we heard from port operators and hauliers that a transition period was essential as we leave the EU. In particular, the Road Haulage Association told us that

'UK and EU road hauliers, the majority of their customers and officialdom are not, and will not be, ready for a "no deal", "no transition" scenario.'

They also told us that

'current preparations are insufficient to avoid catastrophic disruption to supply chains' in such a scenario.

We noted this in our report about the proposals for future customs arrangements if we have an orderly Brexit. Widely-held concerns remain about the timescales for transitioning to any new system. We also note the difficulties that may be faced by exporters if they have to operate two complicated sets of systems after Brexit. It is helpful in that regard that the Welsh Government is working with key sectors of the economy to build that resilience.

I also welcome the contribution by the Minister for Economy and Transport last week, which reminded us all of the challenges in gaining heavy goods vehicle permits for Welsh businesses and the impact that might have on our indigenous companies. A simple matter that we all take for granted—that we can transport our goods across Europe without any difficulty—is now one that 'no deal' could severely damage.

Llywydd, our report on the healthcare and medicines sector heard wide-ranging concerns from health sector organisations. These included the implications of Brexit for the continued supply of medicines, access to clinical trials and maintenance of the health and social care workforce. One of the concerns raised with us was around the lack of communication and continuing uncertainty with regard to Brexit. Although much uncertainty remains, the increase in communication with front-line staff, as outlined in the Welsh Government's response to the committee's report, is welcomed, and I thank the Minister for Health and Social Services for his contribution last week.

In terms of the supply of medicines, the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry told us that

‘the number one ask is for a deal with regulatory co-operation and frictionless trade and movement across borders.'

We heard that 45 million patient packs of medicine move from the UK to the EU every month, with 37 million packs moving in the other direction. Before someone says that they need us more than we need them, they are different medicines and they have different needs, so it's not as easy or straightforward as people think.

In our recommendation 2, we called for the Welsh Government to share details with us of work under way to ensure continuity of supply. It is reassuring to see in the Minister's response a level of detail in terms of progressing with these arrangements.

Llywydd, when looking at the implications of Brexit for healthcare and medicines, it has been the well-being of patients that has been at the forefront of our minds. In particular, our membership of the EU currently gives Wales access to the very cutting edge in medical research and clinical trials. If the steady progress that we have made in improving the lives and health of our people is to continue after Brexit, it is vital that we secure close regulatory co-operation in the field of healthcare and medicines.

I welcome the steps being taken by the Welsh Government to work with counterparts in the Department of Health and Social Care in Westminster, as outlined in the Minister’s response. However, we do need more certainty from Government at both ends of the M4, and perhaps the Minister can address this in his contribution to the debate today, and I do refer to the Minister for Brexit in that scenario. 

A final issue in relation to the impact of Brexit on healthcare in Wales relates to the health and social care workforce. It's been discussed in many committees, that issue. In its evidence the British Medical Association Cymru told us that approximately 6.5 per cent of doctors currently working in Wales are from the European Economic Area. However, in terms of the wider workforce, we heard that a lack of robust data, particularly in relation to the social care and allied health professionals, is hampering efforts to prepare for Brexit. I am aware that there's been a briefing from the NHS Confederation that gives a bit more figures but the actual robust data is not there as such yet. As a committee we welcome the research work currently under way to assess the scale of the challenge and look forward to its publication in the coming weeks.

Our third and final report looked at the potential implications of Brexit on the food and drink sector in Wales, something which was brought to the fore yesterday by several major companies highlighting the concerns they had if we left without a deal. The key message to us in our inquiry was that to leave the EU without a deal that secures frictionless access to the single market could be potentially disastrous for the sector in Wales. We heard that around two thirds of Welsh food and drink exports currently go to the European Union and that, in 2016, the total value of exports was around £335 million.

Trading on World Trade Organization terms in the event of a 'no deal' would be particularly damaging for the red meat industry in Wales. It would see considerable new taxes placed on the export of red meat to our nearest neighbours, who currently account for about 90 per cent of all our red meat exports. Furthermore, we heard that it would be very difficult to replace the European market with trade to the rest of the world in the short term. It will take a concerted effort over a number of years for rest of the world markets to mature, and the committee welcomes the work currently being undertaken by the Welsh Government in that regard, but it is a longer term solution.

Finally, in terms of the food and drinks sector in Wales, we heard about the EU’s protected food names scheme, which currently gives 15 Welsh products legal protections against imitation. They include Welsh lamb, beef, Anglesey sea salt and Pembrokeshire earlies, just to name a few. It's vitally important that protected status for Welsh food and drink products is secured after Brexit and I welcome the way in which all Governments of the UK are working collaboratively on a successor scheme.

It is vital, with the level of change that we're about to see in the agriculture and food sectors as a result of Brexit, that this Assembly also has ample opportunity to scrutinise policy proposals in detail. I'm sure all Ministers will reflect upon this going forward, so that we are able as a legislature to actually scrutinise the policies that come forward to us.

Llywydd, it's important that we raise this awareness today in our national forum. As you will be aware, Brexit is a complicated issue that affects many aspects of our national life. I commend these reports to the National Assembly for Wales and look forward to other Members' contributions today and will respond accordingly.

Can I start by thanking our Chairman, David Rees, for the way he's led the committee? I think he's done so with great alacrity. This is very pressing and serious work and I do appreciate the way you've chaired our meetings and sought to draw out a consensus amongst committee members. But the first thing to emphasise is that, if we leave the EU without a transitionary period, then the disruption is likely to be severe, at least in the areas we are identifying, and potentially we run considerable risks, and indeed it appears that some of those risks are heavier in Wales than they are in other parts of the UK. So, this is very, very serious work indeed and I'm really, really—one thing that gives me encouragement is that we've been so led in it and backed by a wonderful secretariat in terms of producing and helping us produce these reports. 

I also want to commend broadly the Welsh Government for taking, I think, quite a responsible attitude in trying to seek out all the practical ways that it can liaise with the UK Government to ensure that a range of contingencies are prepared. I do welcome this. I think it is a mature approach.

I want to refer just to some of the concerns that have already been raised by our Chair, but let me amplify a couple of them. In terms of the ports, we do need to know more about Welsh Government planning to cope with traffic-related issues, particularly at Holyhead. Now, the UK Government has started to do this in terms of the channel ports in particular. So, the commercial sensitivities, I'm not so sure that they are that pressing, and, anyway, the biggest need is for us to get some information and communication out there. So, I do hope this can be readdressed. An issue for the UK Government that the Welsh Government can put pressure on is the capacity at the moment at our ports to deal with the changes in the regulatory regimes that may apply very, very quickly. This is a great worry for the stakeholders and I think, again, we need some reassurance. 

In terms of healthcare, as has been mentioned, the issue of the number of medicines that come into Britain and the number that go across to Europe is really quite substantial. And this, again, requires very careful co-ordination, particularly around those that perish quickly, like insulin. This was emphasised to us. I know there's an ongoing challenge about warehousing. We were already quite close to capacity in some respects as far as I understand, especially over the ones that require careful storage. These medicines are often required by the most vulnerable in society, so there's an issue there.

The staffing implications are really important. I won't repeat them, other than to say I think the Welsh Government is hoping to report on this specifically about staffing in social and healthcare, and expecting to report sometime in March. I do hope it's able to report as early as possible. I do realise you don't yet know the actual situation we'll be facing, but it's very important that we get some clear information and, again, that that is communicated.

Finally, on food and drink, if we could have some update on the food supply issue of Tesco's announcement that they were concerned. I think this just emphasises the whole issue of leaving the European Community after 40 years, whatever your views are about it. Trading and economic patterns are very set. We've been Europeanised substantially. We have globalisation over this. The supply chains are incredibly intricate, and we do need to bear that in mind, and it will be inevitably disruptive if those are broken without a deal and a transitionary period.

Finally, I do think we now have to spell out what is likely to happen to lamb if we don't have a deal. We will face a 43 per cent tariff. That's the best scenario. We could be in a worse situation than that. We will lose our markets overnight in Europe. Many of the countries there will start to produce more lamb. Now, that will take them a little while, but New Zealand only uses half its quota at the moment in the European market. There's every chance that the slack created by Welsh lamb becoming too expensive could then go to a competitor, and this could devastate our industry. I think it's time that everyone in this Chamber really stood up and addressed these home truths and recognised them, because to see the backbone of our livestock industry devastated would be astonishing. Many of us in the Chamber remember the Chernobyl episode and what that did to much of our lamb production, particularly in north Wales. To see that redoubled and magnified is really quite a shocking prospect, and that's why we need a deal.

I lose count of how many times warnings have been sounded in this Chamber about the real uncertainties that face us from any kind of Brexit, and the huge risks that are in front of us should there be a very hard or even a 'no deal' departure from the European Union. It's important that we remember the context in which this debate takes place today and what is happening down the M4 in the Houses of Parliament, and we should always strive, however unlikely it feels at times, to hope that our message and our concerns here in this national Parliament of ours are heard by those making decisions in Westminster and in Whitehall.

It's no secret that I was among the half of the population that wished to remain in the European Union. It is no secret that I am a proud supporter of the value of membership of the European Union to Wales—the value to a small nation of being a part of European networks. I want Wales, as you know, to be an independent nation within wider networks: the European Union a new British union, perhaps, a Celtic union—who knows? So, any departure to me was against the Welsh national interest. And we, I regret—and I take my part of the blame for it—failed to emphasise that enough in what was, in effect, a very English referendum, rather than a British one. Scotland and Northern Ireland, I think, tell us that, and I have little doubt that now we would have a different result in Wales now that we have had time to discuss the specifically Welsh implications. But the referendum took place nearly three years ago. 

But now to be in a position where we are facing the most damaging Brexit possible is to be in a position where everyone will bear the brunt, wherever they are in the UK, although I fear that Wales would be amongst the hardest hit. Pseudo-British imperialists will revel no doubt in a perverse pursuit of splendid isolation, where real isolation is one which can only limit opportunities for the impoverished, for the enterprising, for the young, for business, for agriculture, for our public services, for tolerance, for international co-operation—the list is far longer than the Llywydd would allow me to run through comprehensively time wise. 

But today we note three reports sounding more warnings—three reports by the external affairs committee. The Chair has already eloquently reminded us of some of the warnings that committee sounded on the effects of Brexit on ports, on health, and on the food and drink sector in Wales. The Government has accepted the many recommendations made for preparatory work needed, and I'm pleased they have been accepted. But, of course, preparation simply cannot be done adequately, not even given all the time in the world, let along the eight weeks that we have left, to put us in a position where we could look forward, realistically, to being on an equal footing post hard or 'no deal' Brexit as we are on now.

We are dealing today, of course, with the legacy of decisions taken following that referendum in 2016, namely the decision to trigger article 50 so quickly, setting a date for departing from the European Union—a date with destiny without a clue about what destiny we were really even seeking. And I'm very proud that my Plaid Cymru colleagues in Westminster voted against the triggering of article 50 then, and perhaps history can judge if Labour and the Conservatives were right to hurry, as happened, to trigger that. But, it's clear to me and my colleagues—we want that date put back. I want article 50 delayed, to buy time, perhaps to seek a less damaging Brexit, perhaps taking into account some of the warnings that have been sounded again in these three reports by this Assembly committee. But it would be time even better spent, in our opinion, to ask the people again if this is what they, and people like my eldest daughter—a passionate European who has become eligible to vote since that referendum—still really want.  

I'm going to focus on one of the three reports, but before I do, as somebody who's recently joined the committee, can I just commend the work that the committee has done on these three reports and the thoroughness of them, and the fact that they deal with facts very directly? It isn't unnecessary scare stories or fear; it's purely what the scenarios look like, particularly with no deal, but even on a managed Brexit withdrawal, and what we need to do. But it is a stark reminder of what we are facing.

Just to pick up on David's point about sheep and lamb within Wales, we often think of those pastoral idylls in mid Wales or north Wales—light lamb and so on—but, of course, colleagues here who sit on these benches who represent the south Wales Valleys, like my own—. They wouldn't be massively dissimilar to my own. Forty per cent of the territorial area of my constituency is upland hill farm. Those farmers traditionally actually survived by not simply doing hill farming but by being the haulage company, being the scaffolder or running the bakery. That's the only way they've been able to do it. They know very much what the risks are now of cutting off the ties of non-tariff access into Europe, regardless, I have to say, of the wider potential that there is, because we have links now out into middle eastern countries, out into Dubai, Qatar and so on. And just one point on that: it's based on the gold standard of our produce—the high animal welfare standards, the high slaughter standards that we have. So, one thing that we do need to do in preparing for Brexit is to make sure that in no way do we compromise those standards, because, curiously, what has been previously criticised as the gold standard, gold-plating our regulations and the way we do it, is actually that very standard why our export markets do have the potential to grow even after Brexit and withdrawal. But we cannot lose that European market because then we'll end up back in the situation where, in the south Wales Valleys, you will have farmers on their uppers. You will have abandoned upland hill farming in south Wales, and that is not only economically important, it is culturally important as well.

But I want to turn to this very good report on the preparedness of the food and drink sector in Wales. It opens by making the point that we cannot repeat too often: every one of us, in our constituencies, one of the biggest employers, both in manufacturing and primary food production is food, whether they are doing tinfoil plates and packaging for aeroplanes or whether they are farmers or whatever—it's food production and manufacturing.

But I want to pick up a couple of specific points in here, and I welcome the fact that the Government accepted all the recommendations that came through in this report on food. First of all, do we have, Minister, any confidence that we will have trade deals signed off by the time we get to 31 March? We're still waiting to see. We hope that we will have trade deals in place. We are told that pens are poised and that lots of preparation has gone on, but we haven't seen anything yet. Does he know that we have any deals ready to go?

Can I ask about the role of the Wales offices overseas and the presence in consulates and embassies? Because those potential export markets are going to rely on some very good, fast-footed work out there and the soft diplomacy as well as the deals that might be negotiated. So, what will be the roles of our Welsh Government personnel but also working alongside UK colleagues as well?

I mentioned the threat of lower standards for imports, but there's also the threat, as David mentioned as well, of dumping. This has long been a threat that we would suddenly find ourselves forced into a compromise situation where we had to, in order to keep food on the shelves, basically accept whatever was available. We cannot do that; we simply cannot do that. But it is a hard reality of something that is now facing us.

Can I also turn to the issue of protected status foods? I welcome very much the work that has been done around UK geographical indication schemes after Brexit, the collaboration that's being done to look at that and the reciprocity with the EU. So, that is being done on the basis of: if we bring forward our protected food names then we will of course welcome EU food names, some of which we have already. But my question on that, Minister, would be: what are our thoughts on whether we can actually accelerate now the number of food products that are from Wales that come under the new or existing protected foods names? Because we have had some good successes, but we have been very slow in getting the volume of products actually up there. So, perhaps we might be able to do more of that and faster.

A couple of points then in terms of the work that's being done to mitigate the effects of a 'no deal' Brexit on the security and continuity of food supplies in Wales. One of those is to do with the food safety and food security issue. It isn't picked up, I don't think, in the report. I'm turning to my colleague on the left, and David's shaking his head. We learnt to our failure within the UK after the horse meat scandal—I'm running out of time. We learnt to our failure about, actually, the importance of multinational security. Horse meat, contaminated horse meat, non-horse meat went through 20 different countries. As we go through Brexit, particularly with a hard deal, are we going to compromise that?

And my final point—final, final, final point; I promise I'll skim through all the rest there—is a recommendation that isn't in there at all. It's been understandably very outward-focusing on what would we do in the case of stepping out from the EU. I would say that one of our recommendations going forward is that we need to build local food networks. When we talk about food security and imports and exports, I get it and it's where we are with Brexit. But part of the resilience, going forward, has got to be to build that local food network where we produce and we sell within our own areas, within our own regions, going forward, as well. Thank you.

Sometimes when I sit here, I don't actually notice that the time has lapsed for the speaker, but it's always useful, then, for the speaker to notice it himself and draw my attention to the fact that he was out of time [Laughter.].

The Counsel General and Brexit Minister to respond to this debate—Jeremy Miles.

Thank you, Llywydd. Before I start, I'd like to thank members of the External Affairs and Additional Legislation Committee for the three reports looking at the Welsh Government's preparedness for exiting the European Union. I'd also like to thank you for the opportunity to reply to this debate. I'm pleased to say that the Welsh Government, in our formal response, have accepted all of the recommendations in each of the reports.

Of course, the situation in terms of each of these issues changes swiftly, as David Rees mentioned, and I welcome the additional questions and comments that we have heard today. I do not wish to spend time today discussing the appalling way that the UK Government has dealt with the Brexit negotiations and the crisis facing our nation as a result of that; there will be another opportunity to look at that situation tomorrow. But, I do have to say, once again, as I and other Cabinet Members have emphasised time and again, exiting the European Union without a deal will be disastrous, as Rhun ap Iorwerth and others have already mentioned. And at this eleventh hour, we encourage the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to secure a deal that would benefit Wales and the UK as a whole.

Last week in the Assembly, a whole day of Plenary proceedings was allocated to outline the impacts of a 'no deal' Brexit on various sectors. This shows how significant the dangers for Wales are, in our view, if we do leave the European Union without a deal, and how grave the message is for the UK Government that they must secure a deal. The statements highlighted some of the most grave impacts that could arise from a 'no deal' exit and these can be seen, too, in the reports laid by the committee. I can't lay out the Welsh Government's response to all of the recommendations in the time available, but I can tell you what our response is to the most important issues. Many of the possible impacts of a 'no deal' Brexit stem from delays at borders, and I want to emphasise that the UK Government is entirely responsible for managing the UK's borders. We are working with them to understand and mitigate the impacts on our transport infrastructure, our business and on our people, but we, ourselves, can't decide on customs arrangements.

The UK Government has decided not to put additional checks in place on goods from European Union nations, temporarily at least, if we were to leave without a deal. But this does not guarantee that goods will flow as freely as they currently do. If we do leave without a deal, then Ireland will have to treat goods from the UK as goods from a third country, including all the necessary checks, and that could lead to delays at Welsh ports.

In most of our ports, we would be able to manage the impact of the delays within the space available in the ports themselves, but Holyhead would find it more difficult to cope with this. As the Minister for Economy and Transport said last Tuesday—and I refer Members to his statement on this issue, which could outline matters in more detail than the Government's response to the committee's recommendations, because it could refer to some of the confidentiality issues that applied at the time—although modelling work suggested that it was likely that we could keep the traffic delayed at Holyhead within the port itself, we have developed contingencies in order to have as little effect as possible on the locality. This includes looking at a number of sites that could be used as contingency spaces for lorries if there is delay at the border.

I'm pleased, therefore, to be able to report that we are taking substantive action in this area, and that we are reasonably confident that disruption at our ports will not lead to severe problems on our road network. This does not, however, reduce the risk of border disruption adversely affecting our businesses and our citizens, with potential chaos at Dover a much more serious threat from this perspective. In particular, the potential difficulties at the ports could have an impact on the ability to bring sufficient supply of medicines and medical devices into the country, as the committee has identified in its report on the preparedness of the healthcare and medicines sector in Wales.

The Welsh Government has been clear that a 'no deal' Brexit would cause serious and unavoidable harm to our health and care services. As the Minister for Health and Social Services outlined in Plenary, we have been working closely with the NHS, local authorities and professional and representative bodies to plan and prepare wherever possible, and we've worked with them to understand the risks and how they can be reduced. We've been focusing on ensuring the availability of a supply of medicines, medical devices and clinical consumables in the event of a 'no deal' Brexit. For medicines, again, the principal responsibility lies squarely with the UK Government. But in acknowledgement of the point that David Rees raised, we have been doing, and continue to do, everything we can to ensure that the assurances that UK Ministers are giving about the ability of the buffer requirements placed on pharmaceutical companies, the additional warehousing and alternative transport routes, including air routes for radioisotopes, are well founded. On medical devices and consumables, as the health Minister outlined, we will use UK arrangements where that is the right thing to do, but we are already taking additional steps, including with regard to storage capacity, where we have areas of concern or where we feel we can provide additional certainty in Wales.

Turning to the food and drinks sector, which, as Huw Irranca-Davies noted, is a crucial part of the Welsh economy, and one that could face significant upheaval in the event of leaving without a deal, as the Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs indicated in her statement in the Chamber last week, where she addressed the risk to what David Melding referred to very powerfully as 'the backbone of our agricultural sector'. We are supporting food and drink businesses on how to check their readiness and understand the implications for their supply chains for 'no deal' through our Brexit portal and through the business resilience and red meat project, funded through our EU transition fund. Regardless of our strong differences of opinion with the UK Government, we are working closely with them and the other devolved administrations on issues such as the geographical indicators about which Huw Irranca-Davies asked, and, in this context, to ensure there is a UK-wide contingency plan with a view to maintaining food supply to the public in the event even of the worst-case scenarios. And we see how vital this is, given the contents of the letter this week to Members of Parliament from the British Retail Consortium, which David Melding and others referred to. We are in an ongoing process of assurance about the actions under way.

Finally, I would like to acknowledge that the committee's reports all flag the importance of effective communications with the public, businesses and partners. The Welsh Government shares the committee's view, and our website, Paratoi Cymru, is a single, comprehensive source of information for the people of Wales about the actions we are taking to prepare for the significant impact of a 'no deal' Brexit. It sets out guidance and advice for citizens, organisations, and a breadth of sectors across Wales, about the steps that need to be taken to prepare for this outcome, and I would seek your support in this Chamber in ensuring the people of Wales make full use of this resource.

David Rees to reply to the debate.

Diolch, Llywydd. I thank Members for their contributions today and the Counsel General for responding on behalf of the Welsh Government's position. 

David Melding, once again, provided a very thoughtful and sincere contribution, seeking to ensure that we are ready for any outcome, as he has always been within the committee. He's been a very strong voice for the sheep farming industry and Welsh lamb, and he highlighted the concerns about the damage that could do to the Welsh economy as a consequence if we don't get that sorted out. He also pointed out, very clearly, that 'Voids are there to be filled' if we're not careful. He also mentioned one thing that perhaps hasn't else been reflected: warehousing and storage capacity for the medicines. Now, I understand a lot of fridges have been bought up by various companies for storage of those medicines. Now, just as an example—nothing to do with Brexit—but not too long ago, we had a problem with EpiPens, simply because of production faults—nothing to do with Brexit, but production faults—and we could see the consequences on the supply chain and the damages to patients and the difficulties presented to Welsh patients simply because of a shortage of Epi-Pens. Now, if we're not careful, this is going to be expanded beyond just one particular product. So, we need to ensure we address these matters and we prepare for them.

Rhun reminded us of the value of EU membership to Wales—that he presented and he believes in. Many in this Chamber will probably agree with him and there will be others who do not agree with him. That is the nature of our democracy. He also reminded us that we're now facing an unknown destiny and we're not in a position by now—we should actually be better placed now to know what's coming down the road, and we don't. His argument on another referendum, I'm sure, will be discussed tomorrow in another debate, because I'm trying to focus on our reports and to keep to that.

Huw reminded us of the reports, actually, affecting a lot more people than—. People talk about lamb and sheep farming; it isn't just mid Wales, north Wales or west Wales. It's actually upland Valleys communities as well. It's all over Wales: rural, urban, the whole lot. And he also reminded us of the opportunities that we're actually going to have by building resilience in our local food networks and developing those very strongly.

Counsel General, thank you for your responses. You highlighted what was very much said last week and you reminded everyone again that, in fact, the deal is critical and the UK Government also has to address these matters, but we still have to address who would pay the additional cost if we use air routes; who will pay the additional cost of storage and medicines? That's something that needs to be resolved with the UK Government. And there's still much to be resolved in a very, very short space of time, and I really want you to take that message back to the next meeting of the JMC(EN) whenever they do decide to meet again in the future.

Can I also put on record my thanks to the clerking team and the witnesses who gave evidence to the committee? Because without both those groups we wouldn't be able to produce our reports and present Members with the consideration of some of the concerns that we need to address to ensure that Wales and its people are served to the best we can serve them. Brexit has been compared by some to the task of delivering the Olympics. The Institute for Government, however, has gone further and suggested that the continuing uncertainty makes it like delivering an Olympics without knowing the year, the location, or whether it's the summer or winter games. Now, all the governments of the UK, and the EU, therefore, have a difficult task in preparing the whole plethora of organisations and sectors that will, potentially, be affected by Brexit. We hope that by focusing on our work and some of those key sectors that are important to Wales we will be able to raise the issues in the eyes of the Welsh Government and ask the Welsh Government, 'Make sure you prepare for situations—all situations'. We do not know what the outcomes will be. I still don't think we will know tomorrow morning what the outcomes will be, because if the Brady amendment is accepted, we've already been told by the EU and the European Parliament that it doesn't matter because they're not going to change the deal. So, there are deep concerns where we will end up and, therefore, we have to make sure our preparations are solid. Diolch yn fawr.

The proposal is to note the committee's reports. Does any Member object? The motion is, therefore, agreed in accordance with Standing Order 12.36.

Motion agreed in accordance with Standing Order 12.36.