Leader: Why we don't need an ecommerce minister

Some in the industry fear that technology policy is being sidelined by the new government.

Alun Michael, whose last job was to push anti-hunting legislation through parliament, is taking responsibility for ecommerce, communications and information industries along with a long list of other responsibilities including regional and small business.

Many in the industry, while not unhappy with the choice of individual, would have preferred him to have a single focus on building the UK's knowledge economy.

But it is also possible to see the dip in the profile of ecommerce as a positive move for the whole industry.

The Department of Trade and Industry - where the minister is based - has been renamed the Department for Productivity, Energy and Industry. And despite the Stalinist five-year plan overtones, this may reflect a move away from a focus on regulation to one of creating a better environment for business.

Similarly, dropping the emphasis on ecommerce and replacing it with a focus on efficiency may reflect a new maturity in the use of technology.

After all we don't have ministers for accountancy or human resources, so do we really need a minister for ecommerce? Shouldn't ecommerce be part of the fabric of business by now? Isn't efficiency a broader and better focus for the government to take?

Of course IT should be part of that - broadband is still a tremendously important political issue, as is creating a regulatory framework where tech businesses can flourish for the benefit of the wider economy. And that means a focus on skills and training as well as communications infrastructure and regulation.

But ecommerce was the buzzword of the turn of the century. It's time to move on and the government should be applauded for doing so. However, it will ignore the broader technology issues at its peril.