Peter Mandleson, who was appointed business secretary recently as part of Gordon Brown's cabinet reshuffle, has split responsibilities for issues regarding IT between several ministers.

It was stated that PatMcFadden is now covering "transformational government" issues given that their links to business tie in with his responsibilities as the minister for employment relations and postal affairs, according to online news resource Computing.

Furthermore, Stephen Carter, who was formerly the communications, technology and broadcasting minister, now takes charge for electronics and IT services alongside communications and content industries in a role which covers most companies working in or with IT.

Ian Pearson, economic and business minister, is to continue his work covering "waste electrical and electronic equipment issues", according to the news provider.

Today, the Economist noted that although Peter Mandleson, the former MP for Hartlepool, was unpopular with Britain during his time in office, he was respected as the trade commissioner for the EU.

According to a recent survey by Connect, the two biggest IT headaches for businesses were 'everyday hassles with IT' (37 per cent) and 'security concerns' (32 per cent) In a recent survey of SMEs for Connect, the two most important benefits of outsourcing were 'guaranteed response times' and 'allowing in-house IT staff to concentrate on more strategic issues'