On Wednesday 21 May, the Senedd will debate the Welsh Government’s approach to international relations after the Committee responsible for its scrutiny published its second annual report. The Culture, Communications, Welsh Language, Sport and International Relations Committee (“the Committee”) finds again that information on delivery and spending is lacking and calls for improvements with just ten months left to go before the 2026 election.
While international relations is a reserved matter, a closer look reveals that the devolved nations each has arrangements reflecting their history, partners and approaches, such as non-binding agreements with other countries and regions.
The report traces key moments in the Committee’s scrutiny of the Welsh Government in 2024 – from its International Strategy and priority relationships, to funding and legislation. It issued six conclusions and eight recommendations designed to improve transparency of the Welsh Government’s international activity.
This article sets out the Committee’s findings and summarises the Welsh Government’s response ahead of the debate. Our previous articles summarise the Committee’s first annual report and explains the Welsh Government’s international arrangements.
International relations: strategies and plans
Responsibility for the Welsh Government’s international relations has rested with the First Minister except for the period between December 2018 and October 2020, when the current First Minister held the position of Minister for International Relations and the Welsh Language.
In January 2020, the then Minister published the Welsh Government’s International Strategy which runs to the end of 2025. Together, the Strategy and its five action plans contain over 270 actions and the Committee has sought to understand progress against delivery.
In May 2023, former First Minister, Mark Drakeford MS, announced his intention to refresh the Strategy to cover the time until the Senedd’s 2026 election. When he took office, former First Minister, Vaughan Gething MS, confirmed a refresh was being considered and reiterated his predecessor’s commitment to involve the Committee in this work.
However, in November 2024 the First Minister announced a new International Delivery Plan for early 2025. Explaining the change in approach, she said her focus was on delivery, which could be best achieved via a delivery plan rather than a refresh. She told the Chair of the Committee, Delyth Jewell MS, that its role would “be different”, namely “scrutinising the delivery itself”. The report says previous commitments to the Committee on its involvement had been “rolled back”.
The International Delivery Plan, which contains 15 new aims, was published on 3 April 2025.
Committees seeks answers on delivery
In recent years, the Committee’s called on the Welsh Government to improve and enhance transparency around its international relations, including in its first annual report, its Wales-Ireland relations report and on its EU priorities. Recommendation 1 of this report calls on the Welsh Government to provide a progress update on delivery of the Strategy and its action plans.
The Committee had already received a commitment to do this from the former First Minister, Mark Drakeford MS in January 2024 as part of his plans for a Strategy refresh.
As First Minister, Eluned Morgan MS, also agreed to provide a progress update in December 2024 when she appeared before the Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister. She said:
There are areas within the strategy that are green, which have been done, they’ve been delivered. There are bits where it may be red and will continue to be red, and then we need to give you an explanation for why it is red. But there are lots of amber bits in there that we need to say, ‘Right, come on, we’ve got 18 months left; let’s get cracking, let’s make sure we deliver on what we said we were going to do.’
So, that is very much the formula that I’m very keen to make sure that you have sight of, where it is we’re delivering, and also where you need to hold us to account because we’re not.
Despite this commitment and subsequent Committee requests, the information is not provided in the Welsh Government’s response to the report, although Recommendation 1 is listed as ‘accepted in principle’. The First Minister indicates that the government’s 2025-26 Annual Report, expected in the coming weeks, will provide an update on the 15 aims set out in the Delivery Plan. She says “some of the actions outlined in the 2020 document are no longer relevant or feasible”.
In March 2025, the Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Planning, Rebecca Evans MS, provided a progress update on the Export Action Plan to the Economy, Trade and Rural Affairs Committee on request. The analysis provides detailed commentary on each of the plan’s 47 actions.
Recommendation 2 of the report called on the Welsh Government to develop mechanisms to monitor delivery of its priorities on an ongoing basis, and to include progress updates in its annual reports.
The First Minister accepted this recommendation. The government will “look to build into its annual reports an update on progress against key priorities” including on the new Delivery Plan. The First Minister also said the recommendation “will be considered further” in the development of any potential future strategy.
Serious concerns over budget
The Committee’s report covers two draft budget scrutiny cycles, in which it’s raised serious and persistent issues in both, including that the First Minister declines to appear in person for evidence.
Although the Welsh Government’s international budget is relatively small at £8-9 million, the Committee said that the written information provided by the First Minister on the 2024-25 draft budget “falls below the standard we expect and we are unable to consider the figures and calculations provided with confidence”. This was again the case for the 2025-26 draft budget with the Committee warning that:
one final opportunity remains in this Senedd for the Welsh Government to engage effectively in our scrutiny of the Draft Budget proposals for International Relations and ensure parity with other Ministerial portfolios. We expect a significant improvement next year and emphasise that this situation cannot persist into the Seventh Senedd.
The Committee has still not received detailed information on planned spend promised by the First Minister, including on its 2025 promotional year of Wales in Japan and the delivery of four of the Strategy’s action plans.
The report also covers costs of Ministerial overseas visits, which are usually published by the Welsh Government once a year, with the latest costs published in August 2024. The Committee contrasts this with the Scottish Government, which publishes details of all Ministerial travel overseas three months in arrears each quarter.
Looking ahead
The delivery of Wales’ international relations over the next ten months hinges on what the Welsh Government’s new Delivery Plan achieves.
The Committee is currently in the middle of an inquiry looking at the effectiveness of the Strategy itself. It’s received mixed views so far from those who’ve given written and oral evidence. Addressing the Welsh Government, Chair, Delyth Jewell MS says:
As we enter the final stage of this Senedd, we urge the Welsh Government to seize this opportunity to shed light on its endeavours, to raise our profile internationally and to establish Wales as a globally responsible nation.
Article by Sara Moran, Senedd Research, Welsh Parliament
