By Steve Ranger, 6 May 2005 12:05
NEWS The Prime Minister has been warned that he must appoint an IT minister who will focus entirely on technology - and not one that will also have to oversee issues including energy and postal services.
As the Prime Minister prepares to name his Cabinet following last night's Labour election victory, tech industry body Intellect warns that the "economic clock is ticking".
Intellect director general John Higgins said: "It is no longer appropriate to have a minister responsible for energy, ecommerce and postal services."
Higgins added: "We need a minister with a clear singular remit for driving the knowledge economy forward, responsible for the key levers: innovation, skills, infrastructure and the creation of an enabling policy environment."
Before the election Mike O'Brien as minister for energy and ecommerce was responsible for energy, sustainable development and the communications and information industries.
Intellect said that without decisive action from the Prime Minister the UK "will be handicapped in its progress towards a knowledge economy".
Without a clear vision, Higgins said, well-intentioned policies such as the recently launched Digital Strategy, will become isolated and fragmented "and ultimately fail to deliver".
He added: "Without cross-government understanding and commitment the UK will fail to keep-pace with its international competitors. We urge the Prime Minister to keep the knowledge economy in the forefront of his mind over the coming days as he chooses his Cabinet, and to prioritise the appointment of a knowledge economy minister as the first key step in ensuring that the UK continues to compete effectively in the 21st century."
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1. Brian Catt
In this climate these are all just words. As any review will show any major government IT project is scuppered by lack of, then changing, objectives, inter departmental in fighting as power is affected and obstruction as any additional tranparency of management effectiveness in Whitehall is threatened. The Humphries are the ONLY winners, plus EDS, Logica, IBM, et al who know what will happen and write the contracts to recover more than the cost of the aggravation, knowing they will be asked back even after being blamed for massive serial failures as they are big enough and know how to make money from what is a cynical "minimalist impact on whitehall empires" game.
If you doubt this count the increased numbers of civil servants that go with any screwed up systems upgrade, as in CSA, hospital management, Passport agency, ambulance service, etc..
Joined up government is a oxymoron.
To paraphrase Tom Peters "if IT support systems were effectively implemented in government the gutters of whitehall would be running with blood"
...surely not, Prime Minister?
Watch out, watch out, there's a Humphry about!
As with business IT based BPR can only work if the functional silos are opened up and their resources deployed to full effect with complete management transparency across departments and functions within them. Think about the reality of that if I haven't convinced you yet.
2. anonymous
There is only one way forward for the UK - FTTH (fibre to the home). We have 5 million unemployed + a full house of prisoners - lets put them to work and make a proper superhighway. There should be a method of helping the current companies not to completely go out of business but the future of the UK is too important to worry about risking a few companies and their revenue. Nobody cared about Marconi so why worry?
Are we not able to at least equal the Victorians in our vision and ability?