UK.gov's tech department gets the chop after two years

public sector 

RIP DSIT: Digital transformation duties shuffle off to reborn DCMS, with GDS along for the ride

The UK government is scrapping the department charged with leading digital and tech change across the public sector.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) – created by former Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak – will see its responsibilities split among other departments after Science Secretary Liz Kendall was axed by new Labour Prime Minister Andy Burnham.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is set to become the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), and reports suggest it will take over responsibility for digital transformation in government from the disbanded DSIT.

After the Labour government took office in 2024, it moved the Government Digital Service (GDS) and the Central Digital and Data Office from the Cabinet Office to DSIT. They now appear likely to find a new home in DCMS.

The new round of musical chairs may be an unwelcome distraction for the team. GDS is responsible for setting the digital strategy and managing digital performance for government. For example, 18 months after it moved to DSIT, GDS launched a "roadmap for modern digital government."

It promised to harness AI for the public good and to strengthen digital public infrastructure. It also said it would redesign digital public services for people and businesses "by setting high standards and working together as one public sector."

However, a recent select committee report noted that although the government set out its intention to make the UK "a truly digital state," it had not "set out what this means in detail or in practice and there is no clear plan to translate this vision into a reality."

DSIT also led the Matrix shared services cluster, a project that involves moving nine government organizations to shared ERP and HR systems based on Workday technology. It was recently rated "red" in a government projects report, meaning it has "major issues" with its schedule, budget, quality, or delivery of benefits, and the problems "do not appear to be manageable or resolvable" at this stage.

The Register doesn't know whether another change of departmental letterhead will help, but we'll see. We have contacted the Cabinet Office, DSIT, and DCMS for further clarification on the new responsibilities. 

DSIT's role as the government's interface with the tech industry will also move to another department, with responsibilities going to the new Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (BIST). Jonathan Reynolds was named Secretary of State for the department.

Kanishka Narayan has meanwhile been elevated to the Cabinet-attending role of Minister for Artificial Intelligence, working jointly in the Cabinet Office and BIST. ®