Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
 | |
| Department overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 5 June 2009 |
| Jurisdiction | United Kingdom |
| Headquarters | 1, Victoria Street, London |
| Annual budget | £16.5 billion (current) & £1.3 billion (capital) for 2011-12 [1] |
| Minister responsible | Vince Cable, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills |
| Department executive | Martin Donnelly, Permanent Secretary |
| Child agencies |
Companies House HM Land Registry Insolvency Service Intellectual Property Office Met Office National Measurement Office Ordnance Survey Skills Funding Agency UK Space Agency UK Trade and Investment (with FCO) |
| Website | www.gov.uk/bis |
.svg.png) |
| This article is part of a series on the politics and government of the United Kingdom |
|
Foreign policy |
|
Politics portal |
The Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) is a ministerial department of the United Kingdom Government created on 5 June 2009 by the merger of the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) and the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR).[2]
Ministers
The BIS Ministers are as follows:[3]
| Minister | Rank | Portfolio | |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Rt Hon Dr Vince Cable MP | Secretary of State President of the Board of Trade |
Overall responsibility, business and banking | |
| The Rt Hon Greg Clark MP | Minister of State | Universities, science and cities | |
| Matthew Hancock MP | Minister of State | Business and Enterprise | |
| Ed Vaizey MP | Minister of State | Culture and the digital economy | |
| Lord Livingston | Minister of State | Trade and investment | |
| Jo Swinson MP | Parliamentary Under Secretary of State | Employment relations and consumer affairs | |
| Nick Boles MP | Minister of State | Skills and Equalities | |
| George Freeman MP | Parliamentary Under Secretary of State | Life sciences | |
| Baroness Neville-Rolfe | Parliamentary Under Secretary of State | Intellectual property | |
| Key | Conservative | |
|---|---|---|
| Liberal Democrat |
Matthew Hancock works jointly between BIS and the Department of Education. Lord Livingston works jointly between BIS and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
The Permanent Secretary is Martin Donnelly, following the departure of Simon Fraser CMG, on 26 August 2010.
Responsibilities
The department is responsible for UK Government policy in the following areas:[3]
- business regulation and support
- company law
- competition
- consumer affairs
- corporate governance
- employment relations
- export licensing
- further education
- higher education
- innovation
- insolvency
- intellectual property
- outer space
- postal affairs
- regional and local economic development
- science and research
- skills
- trade
- training
Some policies apply to England alone due to devolution, while others are not devolved and therefore apply to other nations of the United Kingdom.
Devolution
Economic policy is mostly devolved but several important policy areas are reserved to Westminster. Further and higher education policy is mostly devolved. Reserved and excepted matters are outlined below.
Scotland
Reserved matters:[4]
- telecommunications
- postal services
- intellectual property
- import and export control
- business associations
- insolvency
- competition
- customer protection
- product standards, safety and liability
- weights and measures
- research councils
- outer space
- time
The Scottish Government Economy and Education Directorates handle devolved economic and further and higher education policy respectively.
Northern Ireland
Reserved matters:[5]
- telecommunications
- postal services
- intellectual property
- import and export controls, external trade
- units of measurement
- consumer safety in relation to goods
Excepted matter:[6]
The department's main counterparts are:[7]
- Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (general economic policy)
- Department for Employment and Learning (employment relations, further and higher education policy)
Wales
Under the Welsh devolution settlement, specific policy areas are transferred to the Welsh Government rather than reserved to Westminster.
References
- ↑ Budget 2011 (PDF). London: HM Treasury. 2011. p. 48. Retrieved 30 December 2011.
- ↑ Prime Minister's Office: Changes to the machinery of Government
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Department for Business, Innovation and Skills". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 2014-12-10.
- ↑ "Scotland Act 1998, Schedule 5, Part II". Opsi.gov.uk. Retrieved 2012-12-04.
- ↑ "Northern Ireland Act 1998, Schedule 3". Opsi.gov.uk. 1998-06-25. Retrieved 2012-12-04.
- ↑ "Northern Ireland Act 1998, Schedule 2". Opsi.gov.uk. 1998-06-25. Retrieved 2012-12-04.
- ↑ "Departments (Transfer and Assignment of Functions) Order (Northern Ireland) 1999". Opsi.gov.uk. 2012-10-05. Retrieved 2012-12-04.
External links
Precursor departments:
- Department for Business and Regulatory Reform (BERR) Archived Website
- Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) Archived Website
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||