In the event of a no deal Brexit, it appears increasingly unlikely that the necessary transport contingency plans will be in place, the National Audit Office (NAO) has suggested.
In a new report analysing the Department for Transport's (DfT's) preparations for exiting the EU on March 2019, the auditors state that the Department 'still faces a considerable challenge'.
'For example, it still has much to do on the contingency arrangements required by DExEU (The Department for Exiting the European Union) in case no deal is reached, with an increasing risk of not being able to deliver them all within the time available,' the NAO said.
On top of this communication and reporting issues are making it harder to measure the DfT's progress.
'The lack of a consistent approach to reporting progress between the DExEU and Department-run reporting systems potentially hinders the communication of clear messages to more senior levels.
'As the exit programme enters a more complex and pressured phase, the Department needs a much clearer overall view of where its programme has got to against where it needs to be, and the overall implications of any slippage, and strengthened mechanisms for taking tough decisions on actions and priorities quickly.'
However the DfT was congratulated by the NAO on a 'determined effort to address the significant and complex challenge of delivering the wide-ranging set of actions required of it to support the UK’s exit from the EU'.
The DfT has been 'preparing the large volume of secondary legislation that is expected to be needed before March 2019 and has been working with its arm’s-length bodies to take forward a broad range of projects it considers essential to support exit'.
Its delivery of the Haulage Permits and Trailer Registration Bill to Parliament broadly to time demonstrated, the DfT's 'ability to deliver a high priority'.
The prepartions are no small task in the area of transport as the EU has had 'a substantial influence' on a range of key areas including:
- the market in transport services,
- the regulation of safety standards and environmental impacts,
- the development of a trans-European transport infrastructure and
- relations with countries outside the EU on transport matters
The DfT is responsible for 18 workstreams to deliver the changes required to the transport system to enable the UK’s exit from the EU. These range from 'ensuring that arrangements are in place to manage any traffic impacts from changed border arrangements through to making plans for setting new car emission targets' the NAO said.
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