The announcement of the merger of the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) and the Department for Innovation Universities and Skills (DIUS) on the 5th June 2009 is understood to have received a mixed reaction from businesses, organisations and institutions.
The merge which has led to the creation of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), a ‘super Government department’ will focus on building Britain’s capabilities to compete in the global economy.
The BIS ministerial team will be led by the First Secretary of State, Lord Mandelson and will combine the strengths of BERR and DIUS. The merge has seen John Denham take on the role of Labour’s new Communities Secretary.
How will the merger support the Government’s vision set out in enterprise strategy to make the UK the most enterprising economy in the world and the best place to start and grow a business? In order to create an enterprising economy Britain needs to create an environment that encourages enterprise and innovation and invests in skills to help people reach their full potential and grasp new opportunities.
By combining BERR’s strength in shaping the enterprise environment and building strategies in better regulation with DIUS’s expertise in maintaining world class universities, expanding access to higher education and shaping skills policy and innovation a move towards this vision would be expected to be achieved.
A selection of the new department’s responsibilities which may be of interest to EnterpriseUpfront readers are:
- To promote an enterprise environment that is good for business and consumers
- To assess the changing skills need of the economy and design policies to meet the needs.
- To invest in the development of Higher Education
- To continue investing in skills through the Further Education system
- To encourage innovation in the UK
- To defend a sound regulatory environment that encourages enterprise and skills.
The creation of BIS brought to mind the April edition of EnterpriseUpfront in which we highlighted the announcement of the Review of Support for Self-Employment which is currently being undertaken by Peter Jones. Interesting as the announcement was the surprising part then was that it came from John Denham the then Skills Secretary, although now with the creation of BIS the review fits.
BERR, DIUS and BIS are in a transitional phase a present. Further information about the Department can be found at the interim BIS website at www.bis.gov.uk, the former BERR site at www.berr.gov.uk and the former DIUS site at www.dius.gov.uk.