Preparing for Brexit – a look at key sectors

Background

A key strand of work for the External Affairs and Additional Legislation Committee was to examine the preparedness of Wales, and in particular the Welsh Government, for Brexit.

 

The Committee’s previous work encompassing aspects of Brexit preparedness included:

During the summer of 2018 the Committee agreed to conduct further work on Brexit preparedness to build on the findings, conclusions and recommendations of its earlier work. The Committee agreed to focus on three key sectors – ports; healthcare and medicines; and food.

 

As part of this work, the Committee wrote to previous stakeholders in the areas of ports, medicines and healthcare, and food over the summer before deciding its next steps. The responses can be viewed below.

 

The Committee held a further evidence session with key sectors on their preparation for Brexit on Monday 8 October 2018.

 

Preparing for Brexit – follow-up report on the preparedness of Welsh ports

The Committee published its report on the preparedness of Welsh ports on 26 November 2018. Read the full report. 

 

On publication of the report, David Rees AM, Chair of the Committee said:

“With less than five months to go until the UK leaves the European Union we set out to look the preparedness of the ports sector, and what we found is that there needs to be a step-change in Welsh Government activity to support the sector prepare for Brexit.

 

Our report lays out the issues and makes a total of seven recommendations to the Welsh Government on the actions that we think need to be taken as we edge towards leaving the EU in March 2019.”

 

YouTube-Here https://www.youtube.com/embed/j0ZPb3Xy7T4

 

The Welsh Government laid its response to the report on 22 January 2019. The report and government response were debated in Plenary on 29 January 2019.

 

Preparing for Brexit – Report on the preparedness of the healthcare and medicines sector in Wales

The Committee published its report on the preparedness of the healthcare and medicines sector in Wales on 3 December 2018. Read the full report.

 

On publication of the report, David Rees AM, Chair of the Committee said:

“It is vital that the Welsh Government ramps ups it efforts to prepare the health service in Wales for Brexit. This includes providing us with the necessary assurance that plans are in place to communicate with all levels of the health and social care sectors in Wales.”

 

YouTube-Here https://www.youtube.com/embed/RjQ25AcIKN4

 

The Welsh Government laid its response to the report on 22 January 2019. The report and government response were debated in Plenary on 29 January 2019.

 

Preparing for Brexit - Report on the preparedness of the food and drinks sector in Wales

The Committee published its report on the preparedness of the food and drinks sector in Wales on 10 December 208. Read the full report.

 

On publication of the report, David Rees AM, Chair of the Committee said:

“The food and drink sector in Wales is vitally important to our economy, both in terms of the income generated and the jobs supported by the sector. We are very concerned about the potential implications for Wales of a loss of market access for our food and drink producers, particularly farmers in the red meat industry, who are dependent on exports to the EU for a significant chunk of their export income. Furthermore, we heard that although there are efforts in place to expand into new and emerging markets, factors such as the short shelf-life and seasonality of food products such as beef and lamb will mean that these new markets will not come to fruition for many years to come.”

 

YouTube-Here https://www.youtube.com/embed/IXlLd2dmrU0

 

The Welsh Government laid its response to the report on 22 January 2019. The report and government response were debated in Plenary on 29 January 2019.

 

The Committee since undertook joint work with the Wales Audit Office on Brexit preparedness and continued to scrutinise the preparedness of key sectors.

Business type: Committee Inquiry

Reason considered: Senedd Business;

Status: Complete

First published: 22/11/2018

Documents