Will digital government recover from DSIT breakup?

Confusion at the helm

But how exactly will this work? DSIT itself was only set up three years ago in 2023 by then prime minister Rishi Sunak to be the centre of technology for government.

Hailed as the holy grail for driving innovation and deliver improved public services, DSIT was set to help position the UK at the forefront of global scientific and technological advancement. Then, when Labour won the 2024 general election, the Government Digital Service (GDS), the Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO) and the Incubator for AI also joined the department in a drive to position DSIT as the digital centre of government with a seat at the table of decision making.

Those are only some of the changes we have seen to digital government over the past few years, but by far the most notable ones.

Ahead of the formal decision being made, former DSIT special adviser Tom Skinner wrote on LinkedIn that scrapping the department “would be an act of national self-harm”. He highlighted the work of the department over the past three years, including the £500m Sovereign AI Unit, the AI opportunities Action Plan and the investment pledged into British AI.

“It is a British record, delivered by a department that has recruited a whole host of world-leading experts at the frontier of technology and is something that both parties built and both parties should be proud of,” he wrote. “It is proof that when Whitehall gives a ‘mission’ a home, a secretary of state and officials that can focus on clear goals and not be distracted by hyper-political headwinds, this country can still lead the world.”

The AI Security Institute and now former DSIT minister for AI, Kanishka Narayan, are being moved into their new home in the Cabinet Office. Labour peer Smith said this is because the government recognises that “the transformative scale of AI advances requires a strategic, whole-of-government approach from the centre”.

Prime minister Burnham is also establishing an AI taskforce, supported by a prime ministerial adviser on AI, to drive government’s overall strategy on AI.

“The Cabinet Office will also take the lead on AI adoption across the civil service, reflecting the urgency of delivering that transformation for the benefit of people across the country. To deliver this step change, responsibility for AI strategy, public sector AI adoption and the AI Security Institute will move to the Cabinet Office,” Smith said.

There have been mixed reactions to the move. The chair of the Royal Statistical Society’s AI taskforce, Donna Phillips, said that while Narayan’s promotion to Cabinet Office minister for AI is a “positive sign”, they are “concerned, however, that moving responsibility for AI from the science department to the business department could disrupt momentum on important work around AI regulation and governance. It is essential that progress in these areas continues in spite of machinery of government changes.”

And perhaps she is right. Rewiring departments, changing job roles and moving strategic priorities all costs time and money. While AI may have been put on a stronger footing, there was much more to DSIT than simply AI – an entire department, working on everything from cyber security to quantum and semiconductors, has been split into various new iterations.

According to an internal document, which has been confirmed by DSIT, cyber security, digital identity, inclusion and infrastructure, along with GDS, its product teams and digital transformation group will be shipped off to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).

The UK Space Agency, the Office for Life Sciences, Research and Innovation, including sponsorship of UKRI, ARIA, Met Office, National Physical Laboratory and the Intellectual Property Office will all find a new home in the re-named Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (BIST) together with the government’s national technology adviser and chief scientific adviser.

These are just some of the changes, which will likely also lead to job losses in some teams. 

New BIST secretary Johnatan Reynolds said he recognised that the government “has a lot of work to do”, but added: “We must enhance the positive business environment we all need while ensuring the UK remains open, outward facing – making best use of trade opportunities while rebuilding relations with the EU – and putting science, AI and technology at the heart of everything government is doing. This isn’t about quick fixes. I want to double down on the work we have started and see business sentiment improve.”

The future of tech?

DSIT had several struggles in its three years, namely a long parade of interim leaders and several digital ministers – including the most recent Liz Kendall, who has now left government – as well as struggling with departmental buy-in from the rest of government at times.

However, as a department, it had clout, both in the UK and abroad as the digital centre of the UK government. Will a fragmented approach prove to be the end, or simply a reset where it emerges stronger?

It will take time to embed this new machinery of government at a time when technology moves at a pace faster than ever before. It remains to be seen whether government will be able to keep up amid the changes, or whether the fragmentation of digital government will weaken the country’s resolve.

In a LinkedIn post, DGA Group senior director Tom Hollywood said that for the tech industry, “it is difficult to see this reorganisation as anything other than a signal that it is being deprioritised”, adding: “This is likely to lead to slower policymaking, less concentration of expertise in government and a more complicated stakeholder landscape.

“For the UK, the greater risk is that we lose the institutional capabilities which has allowed the country to maximise its ability to respond to the AI revolution. The prime minister should not be surprised if this undermines his ability to live up to his wider ambitions.”