5. What steps is the Counsel General taking to work with all local authorities across Wales in preparation for a 'no deal' Brexit? OAQ53812

Welsh Government is working closely with local government directly and through the Welsh Local Government Association to help authorities plan to mitigate and respond to the damaging impacts of a 'no deal' Brexit. The Government strongly believes that the United Kingdom should not leave the European Union without a deal.

Thank you. In February, the auditor general issued a report about preparations in Wales for a 'no deal' Brexit, and this highlighted the fact that structures, processes and the amount of preparation varied greatly across the local government sector in Wales. Whilst I do appreciate the work undertaken by the WLGA, will you state what action you are taking as the Brexit Minister to ensure that local authorities do have a consistent and adequate approach in preparation for whatever kind of Brexit we actually ultimately end up with?

I thank the Member for that question. We welcomed the report from the Wales Audit Office, as she will know. We felt it was a recognition that there were significant amounts of work happening across public services in Wales to deal with the unwelcome consequences of leaving the European Union. She's right to say there was at that point, in the report, a reference to variability across public services, although I think the evidence taken, which underlay that report, was from a few months before that. But she's recognised in her question the work we've done with the WLGA to enable best practice to be shared across local authorities.

We've also made available, in response to a request from local authorities in Wales, additional funding to build capacity in order to ensure that there's a staffing resource, if you like, in local authorities to co-ordinate and lead the operational work local authorities are doing. We've made available £1.2 million from the EU transition fund in order to support that work. There is a very high level of engagement with local authorities through the local government EU preparedness advisory panel and through the partnership council, which enables those opportunities to share best practice.

I know that, when local authority cabinets have looked at how they can assess their own readiness, they have looked to the experiences of other councils when they've undertaken their own analysis, so that they've learnt from that best practice. I think there was an example recently—I think I'm right in saying—in Torfaen, of them doing exactly that and using that as a tool for assessing their own readiness.

The Welsh Government has taken, I think, quite a responsible and diligent approach to preparing for a 'no deal', but this hasn't been without some real direct costs to date, but also some real indirect costs from diverting resources from other priorities. However, this is as nothing to the cost of actually leaving on a 'no deal' and the lasting damage that will do to jobs in our local authority areas, to local economies, public services and, I have to say, to community cohesion, as the impacts of a 'no deal' rip through our neighbourhoods for years to come. So, does the Minister agree that it is, indeed, imperative that the Conservative Government in Westminster now does all it possibly can to avoid a 'no deal' and certainly does not waste the months ahead to the autumn in bringing us back to the cliff edge once again? History will not be forgiving if the interests of party are placed before the interests of the country at this critical moment in time. 

Well, I endorse entirely the sentiments in the Member's question. He, I think rightly, reminds us that there is a very real possibility that 31 October becomes a deferred cliff edge unless action is taken in the meantime. And there has been a significant amount of resource, both financial and time, and actually the opportunity costs that that imposes, which Governments across the UK have necessarily in the circumstances had to take. As I've said before, that is the action of a responsible Government in this place, to take those steps. However, we do recognise, clearly, we would have preferred not to be in a position where we had to do that. As we stand here today, we are seeking to balance our ongoing commitment to making sure that we are taking those steps to ensure as best we can that Wales is prepared with the fact that we have to be clear that the use of resources is proportionate to that work. So, we will be taking the next few weeks to undertake a lessons-learned analysis of steps taken up until the exit day—well, the proposed exit day—of 29 March, so that we understand what we can do better in the coming weeks and months. 

There is, however, a risk, I think, that we now look at the next six months and think, 'Well, this is way down the track.' We're already seven weeks or so into that seven-month delay. We might get to the summer recess without a resolution, we will then lose time over the summer, and we run the risk of being back in mid September when we have six weeks to the new deadline. So, I would just encourage people to reflect on that. And I agree with him that energies now must be directed at finding a resolution to this.