The Government's failure to swiftly appoint a permanent successor
for Alex Allan is unfortunate. The rumoured decision to focus the
remit of the e-envoy mainly towards Whitehall and e-government is
also problematic.
It occurs at a time when very slow progress is being made on the
Government's e-skills strategy; when UK firms are falling behind
their G7 counterparts in investment and productivity; and when
telecoms firms are screaming out for a strong regulatory lead on
broadband access.
The situation reflects Labour's inability to decide what the
Government should do to promote the e-economy.
That statement may seem unkind, given the Government's
propensity to issue rallying calls, targets, tick-boxes and mission
statements. But behind the rhetoric there is still clearly an
absence of leadership on e-economy issues.
Two weeks before Allan resigned, Computer Weekly advised
Tony Blair to "get an e-grip!" We repeat that advice today.
The e-minister, Patricia Hewitt, has spent the past six months
making welcome and well-informed appearances in the places that
matter. She has pushed for industry guidelines, flown to India to
look for solutions to the skills crisis, and fronted a series of
industry initiatives on security and best practice.
We need that kind of drive and comprehension at cabinet
level.This week's figures on UK capital investment show that, in
most sectors, British firms are falling behind their G7
counterparts. On R&D, capital expenditure and productivity we
are way behind.
That is not a problem to be hived off to a junior minister -
still less to a quasi-civil servant.
And the Government should not allow the worthy task of
e-transformation in Whitehall to be higher on the agenda than the
e-transformation of the economy.
Allan's remit was changed, before he resigned, to include
policing Whitehall IT projects.
That is a big enough job for one talented individual on its own
- but it's not what Britain's e-leader should primarily be
concerned with.
The Government's long-term plans on education are admirable and
will, over the next ten years, boost the skills and e-literacy of
the workforce. But they will not solve today's problems: skills
crisis, underinvestment and poor access to broadband
communications.
The Government has raised needless obstacles to the e-economy.
IR35 certainly does not help the skills crisis. The RIP Actis a
major disincentive toconducting e-commerce operations in this
country and an open invitation for firms to locate in Eire, where a
liberal cybertapping regime is combined with a high-skill workforce
and modern telecoms infrastructure.
With the election looming, it may be that we have to wait until
after next May to get a replacement for Allan.
Tony Blair needs to make sure that, whoever is appointed to be
the new e-commissar, they come with a plausible five-year plan.