Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Department overview | |
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Formed | 5 June 2009 |
Preceding Department | |
Dissolved | 14 July 2016 |
Superseding agency | |
Jurisdiction | United Kingdom |
Headquarters | 1, Victoria Street, London |
Annual budget | £16.5 billion (current) and £1.3 billion (capital) for 2011-12 [1] |
Child agencies | |
Website | www.gov.uk/bis |
This article is part of a series on the politics and government of the United Kingdom |
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The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) was 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). It was disbanded on the creation of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on 14 July 2016.[2]
Previous Secretaries of State for Business, Innovation and Skills
Name | Portrait | Took office | Left office | Political party | Prime Minister | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Lord Mandelson | 5 June 2009 | 11 May 2010 | Labour | Gordon Brown | |||
Vince Cable | 12 May 2010 | 8 May 2015 | Liberal Democrats | David Cameron (Coalition) | |||
Sajid Javid | 11 May 2015 | 14 July 2016 | Conservative | David Cameron (II) | |||
Following the department's dissolution, it no longer has ministers responsible.[3]
The Permanent Secretary was Sir Martin Donnelly.
Responsibilities
The department was 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.
- 2011 British Hajj Consular Delegation launch
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]
- Competition
- Customer protection
- Import and export control
- Insolvency
- Intellectual property
- Outer space
- Postal services
- Product standards, safety and liability
- Research councils
- Telecommunications
- Time
- Business associations
- Weights and measures
The Scottish Government Economy and Education Directorates handle devolved economic and further and higher education policy respectively.
Northern Ireland
Reserved matters:[5]
- Consumer safety in relation to goods
- Import and export controls, external trade
- Intellectual property
- Postal services
- Telecommunications
- Units of measurement
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. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 August 2011. Retrieved 30 December 2011.
- ↑ Prime Minister's Office: Changes to the machinery of Government Archived 8 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine.
- 1 2 "Department for Business, Innovation and Skills". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 2016-07-18.
- ↑ "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