Stephen Carter gets comms and technology brief

New role of minister for comms, technology and broadcasting reflects increasing media convergence

Gordon Brown intimate Stephen Carter will sit on the 'economic war council'

Stephen Carter, formerly Gordon Brown's chief of communications strategy, is to adopt the new role of minister for communications, technology and broadcasting.

Carter, formerly chief executive at media regulator Ofcom, has been given a peerage in order to take the new role in the House of Lords.

He will sit on the National Economic Council, known as Brown's 'economic war council', a cabinet committee that replaces the Economic Development Committee and has the aim of steering the UK out of the current financial crisis.

Carter's remit will be split between the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) under secretary of state Andy Burnham, and the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) under Peter Mandelson.

A spokesman for technology trade body Intellect welcomed the news.

"Intellect has been calling for a ‘converged’ minister bringing together broadcasting and communications and the worlds of BERR and DCMS, since its Capitalising on Convergence report of 2005," he said.

"We believe the experience and industry knowledge Stephen Carter has about the sectors he will cover, gained from his time at Ofcom, will be invaluable in his new role. In today’s difficult economic conditions the UK’s communication industries are more important than ever and we look forward to working with him to maintain their leading status."