1. What financial resources have been allocated to date by the Welsh Government in preparation for the event of a 'no deal' Brexit? OAQ53726

We have called on the UK Government to release funds to tackle its self-imposed chaos. As well as allocating £34 million through the European Union transition fund, we have been actively increasing preparations for a 'no deal' exit, including the Preparing Wales portal, redeploying staff resources, and co-ordinating work across public services.

I thank the Minister for her answer. Of course, the resources that have been spent on 'no deal' planning could have been spent on the Welsh national health service and our schools, which are crying out for investment, had the Westminster Government negotiated a sensible deal, along the lines set out in the joint Plaid Cymru/Welsh Government White Paper, 'Securing Wales' Future', published in January 2017. Not doing so led to total gridlock in Westminster, economic uncertainty and the requirement for Welsh Government to expend time and resources preparing for the eventuality of a 'no deal' Brexit. Could the Minister inform us whether it is her understanding that UK Government spending on 'no deal' is Barnettised? And, further to that, does the Minister agree that the British Treasury should compensate Welsh Government for any funds spent on Wales-specific preparations in this regard, since it is the fault of the Westminster Government that these valuable Welsh funds have been squandered?

Thank you very much. There's very little that I could disagree with in the statement that you've provided this afternoon, which does demonstrate the level of expense that the Welsh Government is making in terms of investing to ensure that we are as best prepared as we possibly can for a Brexit of whatever type that might take. But what I have to say as well is that the funds that we're putting in through the EU transition fund and the level of resource that the Welsh Government is having to turn away from our day-to-day, core business and put into 'no deal' planning are absolutely huge and this is dominating the work of all departments. We have allocated funding that we have had as a Barnett consequential through our EU transition fund. So, some of that funding has gone to the business resilience fund—that's £1.7 million; £1.2 million to strengthen the capacity of local authorities to respond to Brexit; £435,000 to develop police capacity to respond to any civil contingencies; £0.5 million for local resilience forums, who will co-ordinate the response to civil contingencies, as and when they emerge; and £0.5 million to expand the provision of information and support, including immigration advice, to help European Economic Area citizens who are living in Wales. All of these are things that we only have to do because of the chaos that the UK Government has brought about.

Obviously, the Chancellor made £31 million available to you as a Welsh Government for 'no deal' planning. It's important to understand how that money is being used within Welsh Government, and, indeed, its partner bodies. Can you indicate how you've distributed that money, finance Minister, and, importantly, how much of that £31 million has gone outside of Welsh Government, to support health boards or local authorities, for example, which might have to make their own preparations around 'no deal' contingency?

Well, all of those items that I've just described have been funded through the EU transition fund, which was funded with the money you describe, alongside funding for training and upskilling the workforce in Wales's automotive and aerospace industries, and funding for Welsh universities to drive international partnerships and promote Wales as a study destination. I'd be more than happy to share again with Members the list of schemes that we've already funded through our EU transition fund.FootnoteLink

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