Thread by @ShaunGDavey

THREAD: This thread documents my conclusions from my FoI requests regarding the 58 studies on the impact of Brexit. All of the following points take the FoI responses at face value in terms of their veracity. /01

The exercise encompassed many government departments, as you would expect. Those involved: DExEU, Cabinet Office, BIS, CLG, DEFRA, International Development, International Trade, Transport, DWP, Agriculture (NI), Health, Export Credit Guarantees, FCO, Tresury, PM’s Office, /02

Scotland Office, Education, Home Office
Not involved: Scottish Govmnt, Scottish Parliament, All NI departments excluding Agriculture, Attorney General, Wales Office
Yet to respond: Defence, Justice, Culture Media & Sport, Welsh Govmnt, HMRC (Will update on response) /03

There is no evidence of strong project or programme management from DExEU. Indeed, no departments have actually recorded the time/effort involved in the production of the studies. This implies a highly informal process (and probably a chaotic one). /04

I would have expected a properly governed programme of work with clear budgetary oversight: there is simply no evidence of this. /05

The devolved administrations do not appear to have been consulted to any significant degree, though I await a response from the Welsh Government. Scotland in particular has significant resources which could have contributed (A Chief Economist, Financial Strategy Directorate, /06

Economic Development Directorate), but they were not asked to provide input. /07

No external contractors were used in the production of the studies. All departments used in-house effort only in their respective contributions. I am left wondering whether the government has the expertise for this in-house: Personally I doubt it. /08

Although many on both sides of Brexit are keen to see these studies, I do not hold out high hopes of an extensive library of credible documents, which will stand up to scrutiny as one might hope or expect. /09

When they are eventually published, we will need to challenge their conclusions, the credibility of the authors, the assumptions on which they are founded, and the way they were produced.

FoI requests/responses here:
whatdotheyknow.com/user/shaun_dav…

/end