Former construction minister Nick Raynsford has claimed his successors are not in the post for long enough to understand the industry.
Former construction minister Nick Raynsford has claimed his successors are not in the post for long enough to understand the industry.
Mr Raynsford, who held the role from May 1997-June 2001, told Construction News: “Ministerial appointments in recent years have been far, far too short.”
The former Labour MP for Greenwich and Woolwich that longer tenures would help ensure better knowledge of the industry.
He added: “I enjoyed my time enormously and cannot see how my successors, who serve for increasingly short periods of time, can possibly hope to establish a relationship without the time to build up the contacts to understand the issues and explore what the industry needs.
“It is simply unrealistic to expect a minister to get to grips with the industry, to meet the people to understand the issues.
“It’s a very diverse, very complex industry.”
The comings and goings of construction ministers
Mr Raynsford tenure as construction minister lasted four years and two months from May 1997 to June 2001. During his time, Tony Blair's government worked to cut site fatalities and injuries and improve efficiency, which included commissioning the Egan report in 1997.
In the intervening 18 years there have been 16 more ministers who have held the construction brief.
The title for longest serving since Mr Raynsford is held by David Cameron's first construction minister Mark Prisk, who spent two years and four months with the brief from May 2010 to September 2012.
The shortest serving minister is Lord Henley who held it for roughly three months from October 2017 to January 2018.
ust after his departure from the role Mr Harrington sent a statement to CN in which he said that because he ran a property business before becoming an MP he "always felt a strong affinity to the construction sector".
"That’s why I hope to continue to support the industry where I can,” he added.
Crossrail
Mr Raynsford, who stepped down as an MP in 2015, took up the role of deputy chair of Crossrail at the end of last year.
He described the new job as, “a huge privilege, as well as a very demanding one,” and warned the country’s reputation for delivering projects was at stake.
He said: “I am only sorry that the setback which the project has experienced in the last year has, at least temporarily, cast a shadow over what had been a success story from the Olympics onward in British infrastructure developments.
“So our task is not just to put Crossrail back on track but to do the same for the reputation of Britain as a country that really understands how to deliver very large and complex infrastructure projects.”
By constructionnews.co.uk