Timms confirmed as Digital Britain minister
Kable
Published: 10 Aug 2009 12:44 BST
The prime minister's office has confirmed that Stephen Timms will add work on extending the use of digital technologies to his portfolio.
Timms will remain as financial secretary to the Treasury, but will also become a parliamentary under-secretary of state at the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills.
He will not be paid more for the new job, which will involve him reporting to both the business department and the Department of Culture, Media and Skills, the latter with support from Siôn Simon MP.
The MP for East Ham is one of the few in parliament with professional IT experience, in his case as a telecoms analyst.
He has covered IT in his ministerial career, when he had responsibility for e-commerce at the old Department for Trade and Industry between May 2002 and September 2004.
Ensuring people had access to fast connections, a central strand of the Digital Britain work, was then a key part of his job. In May 2003, Timms told The Guardian that he was proud that Britain had tripled the number of broadband connections to two million — although broadband was defined as 128kbps or faster.
"There is a huge, huge groundswell of enthusiasm right across the country, and frustration as well, in places where broadband has not yet been delivered," he said of areas that lacked fast internet access.
The prime minister's office also said that Home Office minister Meg Hillier, who has responsibility for the identity-card scheme, will be replaced by Lord Brett while she is on maternity leave.
Did you find this article useful?
Digg
Slashdot
Del.ici.ous
Stumble
Reddit
