A whole of Government approach is in place focusing on Brexit issues and my Department and agencies are to the forefront of this effort.
The UK’s decision to leave the European Union will impact significantly on all policy fields across the Department as well as our family of Agencies. Brexit is the number one priority for my Department.
In advance of the Referendum my Department conducted a contingency risk assessment of the potential impacts of Brexit across policy areas of my Department. We have refined our analysis post-Referendum and we have been working with Agencies to put in place actions to mitigate risks and maximize opportunities.
We have been working with colleagues across Government to analyse potential sectoral impacts and consider the implications of various scenarios which may emerge as a result of Brexit.
We have already taken a number of important initiatives, including actions taken through Budget 2017 to enhance the capacity of our enterprise agencies to assist companies.
The recent Action Plan for Jobs 2017 advances this work. It contains measures to support enterprises, particularly those most dependent on the UK, to identify and target new markets, and to expand and scale. A new trade and investment strategy has also just been published as part of a major drive towards market diversification.
