Difference between revisions of "Department for Business, Innovation and Skills"

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===Special Advisers===
 
===Special Advisers===
 
* [[Ashley Lumsden]] - Since July 2014  
 
* [[Ashley Lumsden]] - Since July 2014  
* [[Emily Walch]] - Since April 2012
+
* [[Emily Walch]] - Since April 2012 : 'Walch was given a specific brief by Cable to keep an eye on policy that would need careful management within the Liberal Democrat party and to bring a strategic communications approach.' <ref> [http://www.dodsmonitoring.com/downloads/Central_Lobby/BIS_Guide.pdf
 
* [[Lottie Dexter]]  
 
* [[Lottie Dexter]]  
  
===Chief Scientific Adviser===
+
===Former Special Advisers===
*Professor [[John Perkins]] CBE
+
*[Nick Hillman]]
 +
*[[James Wild]]
 +
 
 +
===Press Office===
 +
The BIS press office is led by Aileen Boughen, the hugely experienced Head of News (and wife of Channel 4 News’s former assistant programme editor Malcolm Boughen). A former BT press officer, Boughen knows business backwards and is ably assisted by Simon Steel. <ref name="
  
 
===Management===
 
===Management===

Revision as of 11:12, 1 October 2014

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).[1]

The Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) is the department for economic growth. The department invests in skills and education to promote trade, boost innovation and help people to start and grow a business. BIS also protects consumers and reduces the impact of regulation. BIS is a ministerial department, supported by 48 agencies and public bodies. [2]

Controversies

Spinning Fukushima nuclear meltdown

Nuclear spin.png This article is part of the Nuclear Spin project of Spinwatch.

In June 2011, BIS was involved in a public relations strategy to play down the Fukushima nuclear accident before the full extent of the radiation leak was known.

The Guardian revealed that a BIS official emailed the Nuclear Industry Association and nuclear companies on 13 March 2011, two days after the disaster. The official argued it was not as bad as the 'dramatic' TV pictures made it seem – even though two explosions at reactors on the site were yet to happen. The official said that if companies sent in their comments, they could be incorporated into briefs to ministers and government statements.

On 7 April 2011, the Department for Energy and Climate Change's Office for Nuclear Development invited companies to attend a meeting at the NIA's headquarters in London. The aim was 'to discuss a joint communications and engagement strategy aimed at ensuring we maintain confidence among the British public on the safety of nuclear power stations and nuclear new-build policy in light of recent events at the Fukushima nuclear power plant'.[3]

People

Ministers

  • The Rt Hon Dr Vincent Cable MP, Secretary of State
    President of the Board of Trade, Overall responsibility, business and banking
  • Greg Clark appointed Minister of State on 7 October 2013 and Minister for Universities and Science on 15 July 2014.
  • Matthew Hancock MP, is Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (jointly with Department of Education) - Further education, skills and lifelong learning
  • Ed Vaizey was appointed Minister of State with responsibility for digital industries on 15 July 2014.
  • Ian Livingston was appointed Minister of State for Trade and Investment on 11 December 2013.
  • Nick Boles is Minister of State for Skills and Equalities.
  • Jo Swinson MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State - Employment relations, consumer and postal affairs
  • George Freeman was appointed as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Life Sciences at the Department for Business in July 2014.
  • Lucy Neville-Rolfe is Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and Minister for Intellectual Property

Previous Ministers

  • The Rt Hon David Willetts MP, Minister of State, Universities and science, innovation, space
  • Michael Fallon, MP Minister of State, Business and enterprise
  • Lord Green, Minister of State, Trade and investment
  • Lord Younger[4] - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Intellectual property

Civil servants

The Permanent Secretary is Martin Donnelly, following the departure of Simon Fraser CMG, on 26 August 2010.

Special Advisers

Former Special Advisers

Press Office

The BIS press office is led by Aileen Boughen, the hugely experienced Head of News (and wife of Channel 4 News’s former assistant programme editor Malcolm Boughen). A former BT press officer, Boughen knows business backwards and is ably assisted by Simon Steel. [5]

  1. Number 10, Prime Minister's Office: Changes to the machinery of Government Friday 5 June 2009
  2. Department for Business, Innovation & Skills GOV.UK, accessed 1 October 2014
  3. Rob Edwards, Revealed: British government's plan to play down Fukushima, The Guardian, 30 June 2011
  4. The Viscount Younger of Leckie appointed as Business Minister