Anew Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology has been ushered into being – and with a new department returns a familiar face to many in the education community: former universities minister Michelle Donelan has been appointed as the first Secretary of State for Science, Innovation, and Technology (after, supposedly, Michael Gove turned the job down!)
In other familiar face news George Freeman, previous Science Minister and new Super Science Minister in the new department, has hailed this as an important day for UK Science.
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) is no more. Alongside the Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology (there is no convention for acronyms yet but DfSIT pronounced duff-sit is surely an early front runner), will sit a new Department for Energy, Security, and Net-Zero, and a Department for Business and Trade. The Institute for Government (IfG) has said that the Department for Business and Trade will absorb the functions of the Department for International Trade (DIT) – with current DIT Secretary of State, and noted university free speech sceptic, Kemi Badenoch leading this department.
