Burnham Accused of Gutting Tech Department's 'Biggest Strength'

Burnham accused of gutting tech department's 'biggest strength'

Andy Burnham’s decision to abolish the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) will split up the teams it was created to bring together, according to its former top civil servant. A leaked internal government document shows AI, digital and science responsibilities being divided between three departments as ministers begin dismantling DSIT less than three years after it was created. Sarah Munby, who helped establish the departmen…

What the sudden demise of the UK’s department of science means for the future of research

The obituaries were being written before the body was cold. Within hours of Prime Minister Andy Burnham confirming that Whitehall’s responsibilities for science and technology would be absorbed into a new Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (DBIST), Sir Paul Nurse, president of the Royal Society, was on Radio 4 warning that “science isn’t a slave to business”. The trade association TechUK declared it “the wrong change at the w…

The UK Scraps the Department in Charge of UKSA

As the UK touted its aerospace achievements at the Farnborough Air Show, new Prime Minister Andy Burnham saw the perfect opportunity to scrap the department responsible. Burnham, who took office Monday, announced yesterday that the Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology (DSIT)—which housed the UK Space Agency (UKSA) after a shakeup last year—is no longer.  DSIT will be replaced by the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and …

Project Hail Burnham: Ministers moved on & Department destroyed

New Prime Minister Andy Burnham arrived in Downing Street on the afternoon of July 20th promising to bring “the biggest changes in the last forty years” - and big changes they would be. Twelve hours later, nearly a dozen Cabinet ministers had been sacked, an additional five had changed role, and the Department of Science, Innovation & Technology was no more. So where does it leave the environment, nature and wildlife as we enter the age of Andy?

Is Andy Burnham right to merge DSIT with DBT?

A day after Andy Burnham became Prime Minister, one of his headline decisions was to fold the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology into an expanded Department for Business and Trade. The new department, which will be known as the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Technology, will be led by former business secretary Jonathan Reynolds. In another sign that Burnham is keen to bring technology into mainstream decision-mak…

Changes to government science department

The new Prime Minister has merged the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology into a new Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade. In response, Paul Nurse, the President of the Royal Society said: “The Prime Minister understands the transformative power of science, knowledge, innovation, and technology. They are all parts of an interlinked and interdependent system of research that drives economic growth, health care, sec…