4. What assessment has the Counsel General made of the impact of a no-deal Brexit on third sector organisations in Wales? OAQ54420

We are working closely with the third sector. We commissioned the Wales Council for Voluntary Action to undertake research into the impact of Brexit on the sector, and this has culminated in the 'Empowering Communities in the Context of Brexit' report, which was published by the WCVA on 20 September.

Thank you. I'm sure, Minister, that like me you've seen the letter that was sent by numerous third sector organisations, including very many from Wales, to the Prime Minister, warning of the grave concerns about a 'no deal' Brexit. The letter says a 'no deal' Brexit would be detrimental to civil society and the communities that we work with. The uncertainty, the predicted economic shock, the prospect of legal uncertainty, as well as the regression in rights and standards, present a profound risk to the values civil society stands for. Do you recognise the description in that letter? Do you recognise there is a particular risk to our most deprived communities arising from a 'no deal' Brexit? And what more can you do as a Welsh Government to ensure that, should the Tory Government proceed on this reckless course of action, we are as well prepared as we possibly can be?

I thank the Member for that important supplementary question. When you have organisations like Tenovus, Children in Wales, the Migrants' Rights Network, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions—when you've got bodies like that raising the alarm, which is what they do in that letter, I think it's incumbent on us all to sit up and listen to that. I was in an event organised by Charles Whitmore, who I think was party to the letter, a few months ago, in Belfast, actually. I think the impact of Brexit on civic society, and the role of the third sector, hasn't sufficiently been on the agenda across the UK. We have done what we can here to support third sector organisations, partly through the European transition fund. But I think the reason the letter is so powerful is because these are organisations working on the front line in people's lives, often working with vulnerable people—and we are absolutely concerned about the cumulative effect of a number of detrimental impacts that would flow and impact on them in the context of Brexit. One of the things we are trying to do in relation to securing the resilience of the third sector in the event of leaving the European Union is to include them very directly in the work of designing the replacement for structural funds here. There's a steering group, which is convened by Huw Irranca-Davies, and they have a central role in that. That principle of partnership between the third sector and other sectors, which has underpinned the work we've done during our membership of the European Union, needs to survive as and when we leave.