A revamped Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) will transform public services and supercharge economic growth through science and technology, the new government has claimed.
The plans will see DSIT’s scope and size greatly expanded with a brief to unite digital transformation efforts – as they pertain to public services – under one command, bringing together experts in data, digital and artificial intelligence (AI), from the Government Digital Service (GDS), the Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO), and the Incubator for AI (iAI).
Westminster hopes this move will help drive the digital changes – such as the introduction of single login and digital identity services – that are needed to help make the public experience of engaging with government services more accessible and convenient. It also wants to remove more of the existing roadblocks to effective data sharing in the public sector.
More widely, DSIT will be relaunched as the “digital centre of government”, working alongside other departments – most pertinently the Cabinet Office and the Treasury – to maximise the potential of technology to improve daily life, and public services, across the country.
The government said it sees DSIT as a future “partner and standard bearer for government departments” in this regard, supporting them in the use of tech in areas such as education, energy, health and policing, and helping to upskill civil servants to incorporate digital tools – and AI – in their everyday work.
“Britain will not fully benefit from the social and economic potential of science and technology without government leading by example,” said secretary of state for science, innovation and technology, Peter Kyle. “So, DSIT is to become the centre for digital expertise and delivery in government, improving how the government and public services interact with citizens.
“We will act as a leader and partner across government, with industry and the research communities, to boost Britain’s economic performance and power up our public services to improve the lives and life chances of people through the application of science and technology.”
Beyond the core mission of creating a modern, digital government, Kyle is also tasked with leading DSIT in a push to accelerate innovation, investment and productivity through the UK’s scientific and research sector, as well as keeping a keen eye on the safe and secure development of new technologies.
One of 56 out LGBTQ+ MPs sitting in the new Parliament, Kyle was named as secretary of state for science, innovation and technology by prime minister Keir Starmer on Friday 5 July. He entered the House of Commons in 2015 as MP for Hove – since renamed Hove and Portslade – in West Sussex, following an extensive career in the charity sector.
As an opposition MP, he served as shadow minister for victims and youth justice, shadow minister for schools, and shadow Northern Ireland secretary, before being named to the shadow post at DSIT in the autumn of 2023. He has since been developing Labour’s technology strategy, including plans for the development of AI and proposed reform of the rules governing new datacentre developments, among other things.