Summary
Government departments have to face up to some hard choices as they handle Brexit. Departments already have a lot to deliver besides Brexit and need to prioritise, including stopping some projects to make room for essential Brexit work–which is at least 313 areas of work. It is critical that the civil service has the right people, skills and resources to manage exiting the European Union (EU). Yet allocation processes have been too slow; the Department for Exiting the European Union (DExEU) and the Cabinet Office do 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 we expect much greater transparency from DExEU, HM Treasury and the Cabinet Office on formally setting out who is responsible for what and on the progress that is being made. We also need to know what the costs are of delivering Brexit and expect Government to be open about this.
6 February 2018