Ed Vaizey Made Digital Minister

The government has appointed Ed Vaizey MP as the minister responsible for implementing the Digital Economy Act and getting broadband rolled out across Britain – but the administration has been criticised for placing the post under the culture department, not business.

Mr Vaizey has been appointed a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, and though he operates within both the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the Department for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport (DCOMS), it is understood that he will report in practice to Jeremy Hunt, the culture secretary.

But the Internet is for business, surely?

Although eWEEK Europe reported on Monday that Ed Vaizey was likely to get the job within the BIS, it was later reported that the job would go to John Penrose MP, but Vaizey was finally appointed today – though reporting to DCOMS.

“I do wonder about the logic of this,” said Lord Toby Young, a Labour peer active on the IT front in his blog.  “The effective development of the digital economy is going to be vital for UK business.  It will require the effective utilisation of British innovation and as a nation we should be investing to a much greater extent in developing the skills of the next generation of the workforce in this area.  Surely, this is much more the core role of DBIS?”

The new digital minister’s position may have been determined by the level of interest in the copyright side of the Digital Economy Act, which includes provisions to penalise illegal file-sharers and their service providers. In the drastically-curtailed discussion of the Act before it was passed, the file-sharing measures were presented as an essential measure to protect the British creative and media industries.

Liberal Democrat opposition to these provisions of the Digital Economy Act have evaporated after the election, as part of the coalition agreement between the parties. However, the enactment of the new law which is emerging from regulator Ofcom appears to be more lenient than had been feared, with provision to make smaller ISPs exempt.

By contrast, measures to provide fast broadband across the UK went rather quiet during the election. All parties promised to provide fast broadband coverage (the Conservatives, for instance, promised speeds of 100Mbps), but most were rather quiet on providing the resources to pay for it. Labour’s proposed 50p a month broadband levy was thrown out before the election.

Meanwhile, a European Digital Agenda has appeared, which proposes all European housholds should have at least 30Mbps by 2020, with half having 100Mbps or more.

Overall the Conservative/Lib Dem coalition’s technology plans are emerging, with a strong emphasis on cuts and efficiencies revealed in Chancellor George Osborne’s maiden speech.