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By Polly Raymond, 26 August 1999 00:15

NEWS A former Labour party advisor has spoken frankly to Silicon.com about the UK government's failure to devise sound ecommerce and IT strategies. Perri 6, who until recently was the director of policy at left-wing think-tank, Demos, claims policy makers are too quick to jump on IT bandwagon and fail to think through their strategies. "My concern is that there are an awful lot of people in government who think they know the one true technology that will deliver us the digital Jerusalem," he said. The government's role, Perri 6 believes, should be to monitor these trends, not get caught up in them. Its only objective should be to quickly establish a legal framework for electronic signatures and data protection - anything beyond that should be left to the market. Another problem lies in the attitude of IT professionals employed within the government. Perri 6 added: "The trouble with both the industry and the geeks it recruits, particularly those in government, is that they're more interested in metal boxes with buttons on them than they are in the culture of government and IT," he said. The government should now concentrate on preparing its own services for the digital economy, he concluded, and the rest is up to business. The full interview can be seen in Silicon.com's Government Channel.