Stephen Timms MP has been
named the Minister of State for Competitiveness in the ministry
that has replaced the Department for Trade and Industry (DTI), the
Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
(DBERR).
Timms worked for Logica then consultancy Ovum, working in the IT
and telecoms business for 15 years before becoming an MP. He
managed the reports business of Ovum before his election.
He has previous experience in government responsibility for
e-commerce. Between 2002 and 2004 he was responsible for e-commerce
at the DTI before being moved to the Treasury, where he was
financial secretary to the Treasury, then Minister for Pensions
Reform and then Chief Secretary to the Treasury.
He was dropped from the cabinet in Gordon Brown's recent
reshuffle, and serves under Secretary of State John Hutton at the
DBERR.
As well as taking over responsibility for e-commerce, Timms will
be in charge of government policy on corporate governance. This
includes oversight of Companies House and of the ongoing
implementation of the massive and complicated Companies Act.
According to the DBERR his full list of responsibilities is:
"enterprise, growth and business investment, strengthening regional
economies, Small Business Service including business support
simplification, business sectors (e-commerce, communications and
information industries, bioscience, chemicals, pharmaceuticals,
shipbuilding, construction, automotive, manufacturing, creative
industries, retail, steel), corporate governance, Companies Act
implementation, Companies House, corporate social responsibility,
general oversight of the Shareholder Executive, specifically the
Industrial Development Unit."
