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Margaret Hodge has been named as the new construction minister in the latest cabinet reshuffle. Taking over the post from Alun Michael, Hodge is the fifth construction minister in five years.

Previously minister of state at the Department for Work and Pensions, her knowledge of the industry is yet to be proven. "We don't know a lot about Margaret Hodge and the extent to which she understands the construction industry," commented SEC Group chief executive Rudi Klein.

"We hope that she's going to be proactive and recognise that there are still serious problems due to payments and hope that she'll go some way towards making the changes needed to the Construction Act to get clarity of payment terms."

The frequent changes of minister and lack of consistent policy this has brought has also come under fire. Since 2001 Nick Raynsford, Brian Wilson, Nigel Griffiths and Michael Alun have all held the post.

Klein commented: "The changes have not helped the evolution of a construction policy. We've never had any sense of what the government intends for construction long-term because of the constant changing of ministers.

"From a practical point of view we've never had the chance to build a relationship with any of the ministers since Nick Raynsford as they have been in office for such short periods," he added.

The size of Hodge's portfolio is also cause for concern as in addition to construction, she must cover 40 industries including e-commerce.

In the same reshuffle the ODPM was removed from John Prescott's command and renamed the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG). This will be headed by former education secretary Ruth Kelly. Angela E Smith was named parliamentary undersecretary of state at the DCLG and will head the ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ Regulations division.