Recommendation 24

The Government must urgently reform Whitehall structures to improve cross-government co-ordination of economic security policy. We recommend that the Government learn from its own history, and following from the example of the 1920s it should: • Appoint a cross-Government Minister for Economic Security, based in the Cabinet Office. This Minister should have responsibility for coordinating economic security related policy across Government, and be made a permanent member of both the National Security Council and the Economic Security sub-committee. • Establish a new Office of Economic Security, that would bring together relevant expertise from across Whitehall, provide a platform for coordination with the private sector, and monitor the overall effectiveness of the UK’s toolkit. • Reinstate the Economic Security sub-committee of the National Security Council, with the Minister for Economic Security and the Secretary of State for Business and Trade as permanent members. • Introduce legislation which would implement the recommendations of this report, and put the economic security related components of pre- existing strategies onto a statutory footing. If the Government rejects the implementation of these measures, we recommend that it sets out in writing how it will improve cross- Government coordination, and ensure that its approach is driven by long-term goals. (Recommendation, paragraph 87)