Exiting the European Union

The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee published a report called Exiting the European Union on the 7 February 2018. In the report the Committee said that Government departments had to face up to some hard choices as they handled Brexit.

Departments already had a lot to deliver besides Brexit and needed to prioritise, including stopping some projects to make room for essential Brexit work — which was at least 313 areas of work.

It was critical that the civil service had the right people, skills and resources to manage exiting the EU. Yet allocation processes had been too slow; the Department for Exiting the European Union (DExEU) and the Cabinet Office did not have a robust enough plan to identify and recruit the people and skills needed quickly. DExEU must pick up the pace of this work and move other departments on to getting things done.

Given these challenges the Committee expected much greater transparency from DExEU, HM Treasury and Cabinet Office on formally setting out who was responsible for what and on the progress that was being made. The Committee also needed to know what the costs were of delivering Brexit and expected Government to be open about this.

The report was published at a time of heightened tension within the Conservative Party as to their Brexit negotiating strategy, with some Brexiteers criticising the civil service..

• Primary Source

UK: Parliament: House of Commons: Committees: News, 07.02.18: Government too slow to allocate skills and resources for Brexit http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/public-accounts-committee/news-parliament-2017/exiting-eu-report-published-17-19/

IFG Analysis, March 2017: The civil service after Article 50 (et al) http://www.europeansources.info/record/the-civil-service-after-article-50/

ESO: In Focus: Brexit - The United Kingdom and the European Union http://www.europeansources.info/record/brexit-the-united-kingdom-and-the-european-union/

UK: NAO: Report: Capability in the Civil Service, March 2017 https://www.nao.org.uk/report/capability-in-the-civil-service/

UK: NAO: Report: Implementing the UK’s exit from the European Union. The Department for Exiting the European Union and the centre of government, November 2017 (plus links to related reports for other government departments, Nov 2017-Jan 2018) http://www.europeansources.info/record/implementing-the-uks-exit-from-the-european-union-the-department-for-exiting-the-european-union-and-the-centre-of-government/

Blog: Institute for Government, 07.02.18: For UK business, the EU is the best place to look for advice on Brexit preparations https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/uk-business-eu-brexit-no-deal

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