The Government and the public service has lost its former ability to respond "quickly and flexibly" to changing economic needs, the Enterprise Strategy Group warned in its long-awaited report.
Emphasising the need for "agile" government, the group said the Government and the public service had, in the past, "proved itself capable of such responsiveness".
A special team of top officials drawn from six departments should be created to monitor the Government's handling of enterprise issues.
"We need to create structures and processes that ensure that government departments and agencies
act in mutually complementary and supportive
ways.
The official team would report to a twice-yearly Cabinet meeting "dedicated to enterprise, to debate and prioritise the cross-departmental responses required".
"A mechanism at the heart of Government is
required to drive the required responses and coherence, a mechanism that will ensure the commitment of all those involved and ensure that they all act in the same direction and with the same sense of urgency," the report said.
The special Cabinet meeting is required "to create a shared vision at senior political level of the nature and importance of the enterprise agenda", it went on.
It would "oversee the implementation of enterprise strategy, review progress and revise priorities as necessary, agree actions and spending required, publish an annual review of progress".
The official team should be made up of the secretaries generals from Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Education and Science, Finance, Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Transport and Agriculture and Food.
