DSIT scrapped and new AI minister appointed

The UK’s new AI Minister, Kanishka Narayan, previously Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) from 7 September 2025 to 20 July 2026, will work from the Cabinet Office.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has been abolished. Some of DSIT’s responsibilities will be under an expanded Department for Business and Trade, creating a new Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Technology; and others under the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (previously DCMS), led by Rt Hon Ian Murray MP, Minister of State. Its responsibilities will include ‘digital foundations, digital transformation, digital inclusion and skills, information resilience and online harms’.

Technology secretary, Liz Kendall, has been dismissed by the new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham. It is not yet known which department will be the ICO's sponsoring department.

The rationale for these changes is explained in the statement to Parliament: “The functions of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) will be redistributed to align with our core economic and social agenda, embedded as vital engines of growth exactly where they can have the most direct impact. This move recognises that technology and innovation are not separate sectors of our economy – they are the foundation of all future industry, culture, and public service delivery.”

See:

• Statement by the Government