The Department for Science Innovation and Technology was arrange in 2023 by Rishi Sunak to assist obtain the goal of cementing “[the UK’s] place as a global science and technology superpower by 2030”.
22
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, Prime Minister’s Office, 10 Downing Street, Donelan M and Sunak R, ‘Plan to forge a better Britain through science and technology unveiled’, GOV.UK, 6 March 2023, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/plan-to-forge-a-better-britain-through-science-and-technology-unveiled
Just over three years’ later, Andy Burnham has confirmed its dissolution.
The new prime minister has break up its capabilities 3 ways: science and innovation now sit in an expanded Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade; duty for all issues ‘digital’ (together with the Government Digital Service, GDS) has moved to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (as soon as once more gaining the phrase ‘digital’ in its title); and duty for AI sits within the new Office for the Prime Minister and Cabinet (OPMC) and the Cabinet Office.
23
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, Prime Minister’s Office, 10 Downing Street, Donelan M and Sunak R, ‘Plan to forge a better Britain through science and technology unveiled’, GOV.UK, 6 March 2023, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/plan-to-forge-a-better-britain-through-science-and-technology-unveiled
Most of it is a reversion to pre-DSIT days.
DSIT was a division that made sense
The creation of DSIT was an all-too-rare instance of a equipment of presidency change that was thought via and had clear logic: it introduced collectively associated coverage areas, elevated concentrate on particular priorities,
24
Durrant T and Tetlow G, Creating and dismantling authorities departments: How to deal with equipment of presidency modifications effectively, Institute for Government, 2019, https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/sites/default/files/publications/creating-and-dismantling-government-departments.pdf
and was warmly welcomed by enterprise and the science and expertise group.
25
Durrant T and Tetlow G, Creating and dismantling authorities departments: How to deal with equipment of presidency modifications effectively, Institute for Government, 2019, https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/sites/default/files/publications/creating-and-dismantling-government-departments.pdf
In creating it, Sunak additionally gave a powerful political sign, which prolonged internationally, of the prioritisation of sectors that are significantly vital to the UK economic system and to the UK’s worldwide standing. It spoke to the ambition for the UK to set itself up for the longer term, to construct an “institutional production line” from its universities and science sectors into companies.
It is true that at first DSIT struggled to train clout throughout authorities, whereas the transfer of duty for digital authorities to the division brought on teething issues (round recruitment of senior roles and the quantity of reorganisation concerned).
26
Keenan H, Dunlop H, Worlidge J and others, Whitehall Monitor 2026, Institute for Government, 13 January 2026, https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/whitehall-monitor-2026/part-2-state-civil-service#digital-transformation
But even when this brought on challenges, DSIT had lastly bought via the trauma of a equipment of presidency change – just for it now to begin once more.
Moving duties round will create extra uncertainty and result in a lack of focus
Machinery of presidency modifications price time and power and shouldn’t be launched into calmly.
27
Keenan H, Dunlop H, Worlidge J and others, Whitehall Monitor 2026, Institute for Government, 13 January 2026, https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/whitehall-monitor-2026/part-2-state-civil-service#digital-transformation
The prices of restructure vary from extra apparent spending comparable to new IT and aligning the salaries of civil servants, to the hidden prices to productiveness. This can run up a invoice of a whole bunch of thousands and thousands of kilos.
28
Durrant T and Tetlow G, Creating and dismantling authorities departments: How to deal with equipment of presidency modifications effectively, Institute for Government, 2019, https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/sites/default/files/publications/creating-and-dismantling-government-departments.pdf
Machinery of presidency modifications additionally trigger loads of uncertainty – for civil servants but in addition on this case for companies and scientific and analysis establishments that benefited from the devoted focus and funding from the division.
The capabilities of DSIT are being – largely – returned to the place they had been earlier than the division existed, however it’s exhausting to see the explanation behind dismantling a division whose focus and expertise was an enchancment on the earlier association. If Burnham was involved about DSIT’s means to work successfully, a greater answer would have been to offer DSIT the backing it wanted.
This is exemplified within the choice to centralise AI and transfer GDS to DDCMS. AI is an expansive and ill-defined coverage space; one of many advantages of DSIT was that it might take into account AI within the spherical, alongside different rising applied sciences and expertise infrastructure and the broader digital technique for presidency set by GDS. The new minister for AI, as an alternative of getting a united division behind him, now has break up duties between two departments, neither of which can host GDS (which now consists of i.AI – the federal government incubator for AI – because of the earlier reorganisation).
Nor does centralising AI duty essentially imply that it’s going to enhance the flexibility to drive AI adoption within the public sector. After all, GDS struggled to implement digital transformation from the Cabinet Office. Dispersal from one division to a few, all of which have wider briefs than DSIT did, will make it that a lot more durable to attain the cross-government coordination and focus that’s wanted.
DSIT had established itself internationally and domestically as a powerful supporter of important UK sectors, and was beginning to discover its ft as a division making ready each the federal government and the UK for the longer term. Now three departments might want to work out their roles on this house, all whereas coping with advanced structural challenges.
This equipment of presidency change is a mistake. But it’s executed now. So if Andy Burnham desires this newest construction to maintain, then he must demand extra readability of duties. Otherwise confusion will reign and the DSIT demolition will result in actual hurt to an space the place the UK had been making progress.