The Auditor General for Wales has written to the External Affairs & Additional Legislation Committee with his observations on the progress made in recent months by devolved public bodies across Wales in preparing for a potential ‘no-deal’ Brexit.

Following our report, which was published in February this year, the Auditor General for Wales, Adrian Crompton, states that the key challenges facing public service leaders across Wales are now to:

• Sustain collective working: Planning for a no-deal Brexit has continued, and has been significantly strengthened in some areas, since March. There is evidence of a more collaborative approach across Wales’ public services. It is vital that this continues.
• Strengthen communications with the public: Public services must communicate clear and consistent messages to the public about the implications of a no-deal Brexit building on arrangements already in place. In particular, the public need to know what they should and, just as importantly, should not do in respect of medicines, food and fuel supplies.
• Enhance independent scrutiny: Those charged with governance of Wales’ public bodies need to enhance their oversight and scrutiny of Brexit preparations, both as 31 October approaches and also in the immediate period thereafter.
• Be collectively ready to respond to the unexpected: Public bodies need to be agile and adapt quickly to unexpected developments, especially as some of the immediate implications of a no-deal Brexit are hard to predict.
• Plan and prepare for longer-term impacts: Public bodies need to balance their attention between the immediate consequences of a no-deal Brexit and preparing for its longer-term effects.

You can find out more about the Auditor General’s observations, as of September 2019, and progress made against his three key messages from our February 2019 report by visiting our website, where you can view the letter in full.