Department for Science, Information and Technology: Abolition Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Cabinet Office
Viscount Stansgate
Main Page: Viscount Stansgate (Labour - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Viscount Stansgate's debates with the Cabinet Office
Department for Science, Information and Technology: Abolition
Viscount Stansgate Excerpts(2 weeks, 1 day ago)
Lords ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Lab)
The noble Lord raises a very important point. We are seeing technology move faster than at any point over the last 100 years, never mind in my lifetime. It is incredibly important that we keep up, which is why we will now have a dedicated Minister attending Cabinet to make sure these issues are reflected. Some noble Lords will not have had the opportunity to read the WMS that has been placed in front of your Lordships’ House but, just to reassure them, the AI Security Institute will be part of the Office for the Prime Minister and the Cabinet. The UK Research and Innovation fund is moving to DBIST, the new business department, and its £9.22 billion budget for R&D will continue. The Government Digital Service is moving to DCMS and the sovereign AI fund is also moving to DBIST.
Viscount Stansgate (Lab)
My Lords, if the House will allow me, I pay my own tribute to my noble friend Lord Vallance of Balham, whose record of public service, both as Government Chief Scientific Adviser and as Minister for Science, has been exemplary. As the noble Lord said, he will be missed. Does my noble friend agree that this reorganisation shows that the new Prime Minister has some understanding of the transformative power of science, innovation and technology, and that this new department can, in turn, have a transformative effect? Although the points made by the noble Lords, Lord Waldegrave and Lord Tarassenko, have merit, and I am grateful to my noble friend the Minister for giving some more detail, I hope that this will achieve the aim of making science apply across all of government for the benefit of this country.
Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Lab)
My noble friend is absolutely right. The new Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade will focus on new and emerging sectors as part of our reindustrialisation agenda. This is about building on the foundations that we have already made so that we can move further and faster to deliver for the people of the United Kingdom, which is our responsibility.