8. What discussions has the Welsh Government had regarding arrangements to protect health and care services from the impact of a no-deal Brexit? OAQ53623

Regular discussions have taken place on all aspects of planning for a potential 'no deal' Brexit, involving Ministers, Welsh Government officials, and health and social care organisation leads. There has also been regular engagement with key partners and Governments across the UK.

I'm grateful to the Counsel General for his reply. I've got particular concerns about the care workforce and the percentage of staff currently employed in care homes who are citizens of the European Union. Now, of course, they will be permitted to stay, but there are real questions about how welcome they'd feel and whether they will choose to continue to do so, particularly after a 'no deal' Brexit and the potentially hostile environment that Huw Irranca-Davies referred to earlier.

What discussions has the Counsel General had with the Minister for health, both about how we can reassure this section of the workforce that they will continue to be very welcome here in Wales, but also about the potential to recruit from beyond the European Union if we have to, in a more co-ordinated and concerted way than we've done in the past? In the past, we have had different health boards going out to, for example, the Philippines to recruit nurses and competing against each other, which seems to make very little sense. So, can he provide us some reassurance today that there is some long-term thinking going on about how we protect, particularly, the care workforce, both in terms, as I've said, of making those people who are with us now feel welcome, but also thinking about how we may need to replace them if a hard Brexit does happen?

I thank the Member for that question. It’s obviously a very important point.

In relation to the social care workforce generally, obviously the make-up of that workforce has been one of the issues that the Minister for Health and Social Services has been very focused on. We've undertaken a piece of research to identify what the likely levels of employment are within the sector from the European Union, and, obviously, they are reasonably significant. It's one of the sectors where, in my discussions directly with the chair of the Migration Advisory Committee, and in the formal representations that the Government will be making to the UK Government, we've identified the issue of the social care workforce as one that requires a particular approach in terms of protection through the migration policy. The current proposals in the White Paper that the Government has brought forward do nothing to support the social care workforce, and that’s important from the point of view of the workforce, but it’s also important from the point of view of the sustainability of the workforce and, therefore, the provision of services to people who are often in a very vulnerable position.

There are also discussions going on in relation to how best to ensure that social care workers are able to understand the mechanism for acquiring settled status under the UK Government's proposal. And we've also made funding available to the Association of Directors of Social Services to look at the planning for resilience in the workforce more generally in the longer term.

On the question of making the social care workforce from the EU feel welcome, absolutely, that’s a vitally important dimension to all of this, and I hope that all of us will take the opportunity of making it absolutely clear to workers in all parts of our public services who live here and are from the European Union that they are, and continue to be, welcome as an important part of Welsh public services and Welsh society.

And finally, question 9, David Rees.