Time to reserve judgement

Sir,

The letter from Keith Brogan of the Institution of Civil Engineers on the government's decision to move the sponsoring department for construction from the former Department of the Environment Transport and the Regions to the Department of Trade & Industry (DTI) raises a number of interesting issues (CJ 20 June).

At the Civil Engineering Contractors Association we accept that the move between departments may be beneficial to construction, but we will reserve judgment until we have seen how the new government treats the industry as a whole.

Also, we have been misled by some reports which say that this is the first time in 50 years that there is no named construction minister - there have been occasions in the past where this has been the case.

At the same time, it remains to be seen whether this administration - whose self-proclaimed goal of "joined up government" has not so far been an unqualified success - can accommodate the construction industry in the already overcrowded DTI in such a way that the benefits Mr Brogan outlines in his letter can be fully realised.

A great deal rests on the successful management of the relationship between the construction industry and the government and this may mitigate towards 'joined up industry thinking' and fewer individual agendas.

It would be wrong for people in construction to pass judgement on the new arrangements - either for good or for ill - until the dust has settled.

Only then can we can properly assess the impact this move has had, not on what the government says it is going to do.

Phil Morgan

Head of external and public affairs

Civil Engineering Contractors Association