New UK PM shuts down science and tech department
Jonathan Reynolds will lead the new combined Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (DBIST).
In the midst of appointing his Cabinet, new UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham has scrapped the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).
The move – one of the first signs of a promised overhaul of Whitehall structures under the Burnham government – will see the DSIT's responsibilities rolled into a newly created Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (DBIST), led by Jonathan Reynolds, who led the business department until September 2025.
The new PM sees benefits in bringing business together with science and technology as a way to develop a more coordinated national industrial strategy.
However, the move has already led to a backlash, mainly from the UK's tech leaders and investing sectors, driven by fears that the creation of a 'super-department' will dilute government attention to these sectors, just as there were signs of momentum building in strategic areas like AI and the life sciences.
"DSIT brings researchers, AI practitioners, innovators and policymakers together in one place, giving the tech sector a single government partner that understands it," said TechUK and the Startup Coalition, in an open letter to Burnham published before the announcement.
They added that splitting up work like the AI Security Institute, the Sovereign AI Fund, and UK Research and Investment (UKRI) "risks slowing momentum and investment in a sector which is growing at 10% a year."
Liz Kendall, who served as Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology and was instrumental in setting up the Sovereign AI Fund, stepped down before news of DSIT's abolition was announced, as did Science Minister Lord Patrick Vallance, a popular figure with the life sciences sector, who served as Chief Scientific Adviser to the government from 2018 to 2023.
Richard Torbett, Chief Executive of the ABPI, said: "Patrick Vallance has been a tremendous Science Minister and a genuine champion for the UK's life sciences sector," adding: "He has been instrumental in beginning to turn around international sentiment towards the UK as a life sciences destination."
AI will have cabinet-level representation, however, as Kanishka Narayan has been appointed to the newly created role of Minister for AI, jointly in the Cabinet Office and the DBIST.
Paul Nurse, President of the Royal Society, said that it is essential that science does not become a "junior partner" in the DBIST.
"We need to see the Prime Minister and the new Secretary of State put their active support behind the full science system," he added. "That is how we make science deliver across all parts of government and the best way to make science work for everyone."
Yvette Cooper named Health Secretary
Yvette Cooper, who was both Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary under Sir Keir Starmer's premiership, has kept her place in the Cabinet, moving to the position of Health Secretary.
The appointment makes Cooper the third person to hold the role since mid-May, when Wes Streeting resigned, saying he had lost faith in Starmer's leadership, to be replaced for just a few weeks by James Murray.
Cooper – who worked as a junior health minister early in her political career – said in a social media post that she is "looking forward to working urgently to improve maternity services, to take forward plans for social care, and to once again play a part in supporting our National Health Service."
She added: "Most of all I'm looking forward to working with the dedicated NHS staff, carers, healthcare professionals and volunteers on whom we all depend."
