Public sector support for Northern business is to be centralised in a "super-agency" under new proposals. The Minister for Enterprise Trade and Investment told the Assembly yesterday he hoped the agency could be in place late next year.
Sir Reg Empey said the Industrial Development Board, the Local Enterprise Development Unit and the Industrial Research and Technical Unit will come under the agency's control.
The Department of Enterprise's Company Development Programme and the business support side of the Northern Ireland Tourist Board will also be transferred.
Sir Reg said the existing agencies had served Northern Ireland well but a more integrated approach was needed.
The IDB has been heavily criticised in recent years and Sir Reg said the new agency's "ethos will be professional, business-like and responsive to customers' needs". The current bodies have annual budgets totalling £200 million.