Venue: Committee Room 5, Guildhall, Swansea. View directions
Contact: Liz Jordan 01792 637314
Items
No. |
Item |
1. |
Disclosure of Personal and Prejudicial Interests
Minutes:
No disclosures of interest were made.
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2. |
Prohibition of Whipped Votes and Declaration of Party Whips
Minutes:
No declarations were made.
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3. |
BREXIT Report and Presentation PDF 256 KB
Rob Stewart, Leader of
the Council and Cabinet Member - Economy and Strategy
Adam Hill, Deputy
Chief Executive and Director of Resources
Richard Rowlands, Strategic
Delivery and Performance Manager
Craig Gimblett,
Corporate Health, Safety and Wellbeing Manager
Paul Relf, Economic
Development and External Funding Manager
Minutes:
Rob Stewart, Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for
Economy and Strategy; Adam Hill, Deputy Chief Executive and Director of
Resources and other relevant officers attended to present an overview of the
Council’s preparations for Brexit and answer the
Working Group’s questions.
The following main issues were discussed:
- With so much uncertainty,
Swansea Council is as prepared as it can be and appears to have prepared
more than any other Welsh Council.
- The UK was expecting to
leave the EU initially in March 2019 and the Authority prepared for
that. There are other concerns with
a proposed Autumn Brexit compared to a Spring Brexit.
- Communication is very
important. Have to ensure the
public do not panic buy and stockpile (food, fuel, medicines)
- Concern that some groups
will use Brexit as a means to promote their own
issues and cause unrest.
- Poverty as a consequence
of Brexit is a major concern of the Authority.
- Brexit
could bring some advantages to the area in the future and there are
opportunities we need to promote with local people and businesses.
- Not everyone has access to
a computer and the Council website to obtain information on Brexit. Members
of the public who contact the Authority will be signposted to the right
person to deal with their issue.
- Small businesses are being
helped to prepare by BID which is supporting town centre businesses. The Chamber of Commerce is also helping
to make businesses aware and UK and Welsh Government websites have lots of
information on how businesses should prepare.
- Fuel supply is a national
issue. The police and national
government have contingency plans in place. If there is a traffic management issue
then the Authority’s highways department would get involved.
- Social media is an
issue. We do not know what
influence this will have.
- £45,000 has been received
by the Authority from Welsh Government to assist with planning for Brexit. This
has been used to cover some of the officer’s time. Do not know if any more money will be
received but costs are being tracked including officers time.
- The Authority meets with
Welsh Government and the national government on a monthly basis. The WLGA
meets on a monthly basis and the Leader of the Council is the chair of
this group. The Authority also
meets internally every two weeks and all information received from a
multitude of sources is fed into this meeting.
- The proposed date for Brexit is 31 October 2019, which is a Thursday. It does not matter which day it is as
the Authority will have its contingency plans in place and, as the date
approaches, will meet daily.
- It is unknown what a
further delay to Brexit would mean for
preparations. It depends on how
long the delay is and what time of year.
The Authority will not be able to continue preparing for this
indefinitely as so much officer’s time is involved.
- It is in the weeks and
months after Brexit that the impacts will start
to emerge.
- University schemes attract
a high proportion of European Union (EU) students and this would have a
huge impact on the economy of Swansea.
Swansea University have tried to mitigate the risks.
- The EU is responsible for
natural environment and habitat directives, which are all part of EU
legislation. This will become part
of UK /Welsh law after Brexit but there is
concern that the NE in terms of protections will be impacted and must not
be overlooked.
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4. |
Discussion and Conclusions
Councillors are asked to discuss conclusions arising from
this session
for inclusion in the Convener’s letter to the Cabinet
Member:
a) What do you want to say about this issue to the Cabinet
Member in
the Convener’s letter (what are your conclusions arising
from this
session?)
b) Do you have any recommendations for the Cabinet Member
arising
from this session?
c) Are there any further issues you wish to highlight to the
Scrutiny
Programme Committee arising from this session?
d) Do we need another meeting post BREXIT?
Minutes:
The Working Group discussed progress and made the following
conclusions:
- We found the briefing very
informative and we are reassured that the Authority has done what it can
to prepare for Brexit.
- We are still concerned
about what the Authority will do about any fuel crisis. This would have a huge impact on
communities if it goes on for months.
Our main concern is about the public being able to access transport
for work etc, as well as emergency
services. We are aware that there
should not be a fuel shortage but if there is panic buying it could cause
one.
- We believe that Brexit could provide opportunities for local farmers
and businesses and for the port in Swansea. Even if businesses only plan to use
these as a temporary measure, they could decide it is a better
alternative. We would like to see
the Authority promote these opportunities.
- We feel there is a need to
be very cautious about the language the Authority puts out from forums
etc. There is a need to ensure the
right messages are getting out and this needs to be very carefully
managed.
- We are pleased that some
monies have been received towards preparing from Brexit. However, this is a very small amount and
we are concerned about how the Authority will be reimbursed for all the
costs of managing and monitoring this.
The Authority will need to look into all ways of getting this money
back.
- We would like to see the
Authority publicise the good work it is doing in preparing for Brexit. We need
to communicate the message that we are as prepared as we can be.
- We will be recommending to
the Scrutiny Programme Committee that a follow up meeting of this working
group is held post Brexit.
Following on from this meeting:
- A letter will be written
from the Convener of the Working Group to the Cabinet Member, summarising
the discussion and outlining the Working Group’s thoughts and
recommendations.
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Letter to Cabinet Member PDF 199 KB
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Response from Cabinet PDF 313 KB
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