Last week I asked the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) if it is prepared for Brexit.

 Many businesses are not being informed on what they will need to do if we leave the EU. Defra acknowledged that it had sent out more detailed communications later than it should have.

The Public Accounts Committee which I chair, listened to evidence from Defra and questioned the Department on the huge recruitment exercise it is undertaking, and to what extent it was relying on inexperienced new staff for this critical work. The Committee explored the timelines of six Defra programmes that rely on IT and require a new build and what the risks are that these are not delivered on time. 

You can read the full transcript from the Public Accounts Session here.