2. Questions to the Counsel General and Minister for European Transition (in respect of his European Transition responsibilities) – in the Senedd at 3:00 pm on 27 January 2021.
[Inaudible.]—new—
If you can start again, David; I'm sorry, the microphone wasn't unmuted in time.
I was a bit quick off the mark.
3. What measures are in place to help Welsh exporters transition to the new terms of trade with the European Union's single market? OQ56182
We recently published a new export action plan, which sets out the support available to Welsh exporters to help them understand and navigate the new barriers to exporting to the EU as a result of the decision to leave the customs union and the deal negotiated by the UK Government.
Thank you for that answer. I'm particularly concerned about small and medium-sized enterprises that export, or have done, into the single market in the past. These SMEs are often sector leaders, they're highly innovative—some of our best businesses—and also have great potential for growth. But now, many of them, to get through the thicket of certification and other bureaucracy, which is going to run into billions of pounds, I'm told, from the UK economy, need, for instance, to employ export brokers. What sort of help are you going to give so that they can at least contract with people who are reputable and operate at reasonably low cost?
Well, I thank David Melding for that question that highlights a very important issue. He will be aware, of course, of the equivalent to the trusted trader schemes that have been introduced as part of the new arrangements. However, generally speaking, those tend to be larger companies rather than many of the smaller and medium-sized companies that his question is concerned about and that, obviously, represent a large percentage of the Welsh economy.
The export action plan highlights a few practical things that we are doing to tackle the challenge that his question highlights. The economy Minister recently wrote an open letter to businesses setting out the support and guidance that we have available, including some that is available through the EU transition portal. There is, in addition to that, a new online export hub, which provides very practical advice around the kind of customs procedures, the paperwork and the finding of new clients that he refers to in his question.
Alongside that, we've developed a series of webinars, which aim to walk exporters through the new rules of origin requirements, export certification requirements and so on. In addition to that, the economy Minister has expanded capacity through the recruitment of international trade advisers, who are able to work directly with businesses referred on from Business Wales. They provide very bespoke support and advice to particular businesses about how they can navigate some of these challenges in their particular sectors, which offers a very practical and hands-on function to support them.
Minister, I've received an e-mail from the owner of a substantial transport company in my constituency, and he writes to me,
'We are currently in a crisis in relation to exports to Ireland. We were under the impression that once the Christmas Eve deal was finalised, procedures would be immediately put in place to allow exports to Ireland, but we're still unable to export to Northern Ireland, which we believe is still part of Great Britain. Our company specialises in exporting essential medical equipment to Dublin and various areas of Belfast—equipment, we would add, which is tax-paid, and would allow patients to leave hospital, freeing up beds for those in desperate need at this current time. The bureaucracy of the new system is flawed, overcomplicated and inadequate, and no-one seems to want to accept responsibility for what measures need to be put in place to enable the exports to continue as they have previously.'
Minister, who is responsible for this economic shambles?
Well, the responsibility for the new obstacles to export and freight through our ports is the direct consequence of the UK Government's political priorities in the trade and co-operation agreement with the European Union. There obviously were new obstacles to trade introduced on 1 January. What I would say though is that we've put in place, as a Government, plans to handle the transport and traffic impact of that on our ports, and indeed are working with the UK Government and Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs and the Irish Government to ensure that there are as smooth as possible arrangements in place for freight passing through Holyhead and through our ports in the south-west in particular. And that is absolutely having an effect in making that journey smoother. But the point that he makes in his question is that these are, essentially, matters of political choice. They are new barriers to trade that, obviously, we very much regret having seen imposed on Welsh hauliers.