As Dan Smyth very presciently points out , Stephen Carter got a lot of undeserved criticism in the media when Digital Britain when it came out. Sure, it could have gone further in a number of areas. No-one likes a new tax. There could have been more mention of the role for satellite networks in delivering some of the commitments in it. This is especially the case for Intellect, given our position as the only major European trade body that representing all major European satellite network operators. But I like my DAB radio, and I think I could handle £6 a year as my contribution towards NGA deployment and giving everyone a legal right to broadband.

Regardless of what could have been said in Digital Britain, the key point is: Almost alone in Europe (with the exception of France) the UK now knows what direction its communications infrastructure, and associated industries, is going in in a very comprehensive way. We do have a set of policies to build on. The legislative tools to implement them are about to start making their way through parliament. I know for a fact that many other EU member states see Digital Britain as being far ahead of their own plans and are looking enviously at us. The Tories could do with noting this, rather than simply scoring political points over what could or might have been said in it. Maybe I will be forced to eat my words when the Tory Review of the Creative Industries comes out, but as I haven’t seen a draft yet I’d just urge them to be a bit more constructive.

This is why, more than most ministers in the current Government, I will be particularly sad when Carter steps down. His speech at our Consumer Electronics Conference was particular short, snappy and free of meaningless jargon. My view of it was helped by him name-checking Intellect heavily of course, but regardless of that it was definitely one of the highlights of the day. When asked, by the chair Maggie Philbin, what he thought his most important piece of technology would be in 20 years, his answer, “a pacemaker”, was pretty sharp. He also publicly confirmed that Intellect will be working with Government to ensure the recommendations outlined in Digital Britain are implemented. However much praise Intellect got yesterday, there is no denying that Carter simply gets ‘it’, whatever ‘it’ is. Some stand-outs included his statement that “the key role for Government in its relations with business is clarity” and his firm implication that the best policy comes from ministers who aren’t political careerists and therefore don’t care what enemies they make. I couldn’t agree more. We do of course need as many democratically elected ministers as we can get. But we also know how difficult it is for Labour to find them at the moment. There is no denying that peers can sometimes be really effective at policy making and implementation because they aren’t always climbing the greasy pole.

I also know a number of the civil servants who’ve worked under Carter as a minister fairly well. Gushing is not too strong a word. In the words of one I was talking too - “When we wrote Digital Britain, Carter actually had us all effectively co-ordinated and working towards a common goal, we felt like we were achieving something”. Anyone who talks to civil servants regularly knows that, in their language, this is tantamount to them voting him as the greatest Briton of all time. Not that I would. But you get the message. Carter was that rare beast- a politician who really does know what he is talking about. Somehow we need to get hold of more of them.

So I guess the question now is, will we get a replacement? And who will it be? In fact, will Labour be able to find someone to pilot the related Digital Economy Bill through parliament? We can but wonder. But whether Carter gets his mooted role as Chief Executive at ITV or not, he has done a lot to move the debate on how Government supports ICT development forward. For that, he should be applauded.

Tags: BIS, DCMS, digital britain, Lord Carter, NGA, Ofcom, Stephen Carter, UK ICT

This entry was posted on Friday, July 3rd, 2009 at 6:03 pm and is filed under Consumer Electronics, Convergence, Private Sector. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.