Andy Burnham scraps technology department on first day as PM

Andy Burham, the UK’s new head of government, has dissolved of technology minister, spreading its remit across other departments.

Under Burnham’s premiership, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) will be abolished, with the majority of its remit transferred into the current business department, creating the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (DBIST).

This will make Liz Kendall, former Technology Secretary until she was fired yesterday, the last MP to hold the post. It is currently unknown how much of her remit will be taken up by DBIST head Jonathan Reynolds, but Chris Smith, public policy editor at the Financial Times, reported on X earlier on Tuesday that technology and digital matters are likely to return to the remit of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).

The move has been criticised by some in the tech sector, with industry organisations techUK and the Startup Coalition writing a joint open letter to Burham calling it “the wrong change at the wrong time”.

However, Burnham has also appointed Kanishka Narayan as AI minister and upgraded the role to a cabinet-level post. Narayan will work within DBIST and the cabinet office, though it is not yet known how he will engage with other departments including defence and DCMS. DBIST told National Technology News that his remit was “still being worked out”.

In a post on X on Monday, Welsh MP Narayan described AI as “likely the most significant technology in human history”.

“Its impact will dwarf other things,” he added.

Under previous prime minister Keir Starmer, Narayan was responsible [IH1.1]for AI opportunities, the AI Security Institute, semiconductors, and online safety. The BBC reports that he is expected to retain some of these briefs, though his exact relation to DBIST is unclear.

DBIST and DSIT declined to comment on how long the transition of staff to the new department would take, whether it will lead to redundancies, or how departmental remits will differ one the transition has taken place.