Building Digital UK is to become a directorate within the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, the government has announced.
The agency, which is responsible for improving broadband and mobile coverage in hard-to-reach parts of the UK, will move to DSIT from 1 November.
Ian Murray, minister of state for digital government and data, said in a statement that the decision to integrate the arms-length body “continues DSIT’s growth into the UK government’s department of digital delivery, helping to accelerate innovation and drive economic growth across the country.
“It builds on the integration of other digital delivery bodies, including the Government Digital Service and the Central Digital and Data Office into DSIT”, he added.
The integration will also ensure that the operational expertise within BDUK is “embedded at the heart of government” which will enable “more effective delivery of digital infrastructure”, the digital minister said.
There are to be “no changes to BDUK contracts” as a result of this integration, according to the gov.uk statement from DSIT. “Contractors currently working with BDUK do not need to take any action.”
Murray added: “We will work closely with staff, unions and stakeholders to manage the integration over coming months.”
The announcement is the latest in a series of moves to bring quangos into DSIT and other departments in an ongoing review of the future of every arm’s-length body across government “with a view to rooting out unnecessary bureaucracy and duplication, and to put public accountability first”.
In August, DSIT announced that the UK Space Agency would become a unit within the department.
The biggest decision so far saw ministers announce earlier this year that NHS England, would be abolished as part of this process.