Mark Drakeford MS, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Welsh Language
As the Cabinet Secretary with overall responsibility for the programme of Common Frameworks, I am writing to update the Senedd on progress towards the finalisation and publication of several Common Frameworks, building on the comments of the Deputy First Minister at the Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee on 2 March 2026.
Officials from the Welsh Government are working closely with counterparts from the UK Government, Scottish Government and Northern Ireland Executive to secure Ministerial sign-off for Common Frameworks which all four governments have agreed have limited or no interactions with the UK Internal Market Act. On 19 March the UK Government published the Organs, Tissues and Cells; Blood Safety and Quality; and Late Payments Common Frameworks. Publication of each Common Framework has been agreed by all four governments. I am hopeful that further Frameworks within this category, including Fertilisers, Public Procurement and Radioactive Substances will be able to be finalised and agreed by all four governments in the coming months.
The Welsh Government has always supported the concept of an effective and collaborative internal market across the UK, but this need not and must not be at the expense of devolution. We have consistently supported the programme of Common Frameworks as a means of securing regulatory coherence while protecting the democratically mandated ability of devolved governments to set policy in devolved areas for their own nations.
Reaching cross-government sign-off for this set of Common Frameworks represents a positive milestone for the programme after several years of constrained progress. Formal sign-off reinforces the status of the Common Frameworks as agreed intergovernmental mechanisms, sustains delivery momentum, and enables formal, structured, reporting to legislatures.
For Common Frameworks with more complex internal market implications or dependencies, discussions continue at official level on guidance and agreed ways of working to strengthen the role of all Common Frameworks in managing the internal market, in line with agreed Common Frameworks principles. Across the programme, provisional Frameworks remain fully operational and continue to provide the basis for intergovernmental engagement and policy coordination.
Committees will receive formal responses to recommendations relating to specific Common Frameworks once they have been published.