Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the National Audit Office Report, Implementing the UK’s exit from the European Union, HC 593, published on 17 November 2017, if he will (a) list the 31 work streams in his Department identified by the National Audit Office in that report, (b) provide summaries of the issues covered and (c) detail the number of Officials of his Department contributing to those work streams.

As indicated in the National Audit Office report, the Department for Exiting the European Union had identified 313 Exit work streams across Government departments, including 31 from this Department. The development of work streams is part of ongoing cross-Government work to develop and assess potential policy options, and to understand the implications of EU Exit.

The report represents a snapshot of the number and type of work stream at the time of publication. Many of these will vary as time goes by, including the Department ones but these will be kept under regular review by all departments. We will not be listing any detail about the Department’s work streams.

We can confirm that we are equipping ourselves with the right people and the right skills across government to make a success of Brexit. This Department has identified the workforce it requires for operational and policy requirements and constantly reviews its capabilities in order to deliver the Government’s commitment to leave the EU and get the very best deal for the United Kingdom.