The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology has taken over responsibility for government and public sector cybersecurity from the Cabinet Office, Keir Starmer has announced.
The move will “strengthen technology resilience and policymaking across the public sector, by better integrating cybersecurity responsibilities and expertise into the Government Digital Service”, the prime minister said in a statement to the House of Commons yesterday.
This change, which is effective immediately, comes 11 months after GDS – along with the Central Digital and Data Office and the Incubator for AI – moved to DSIT in Labour's first big machinery of government change after being elected.
The PM also confirmed that responsibility for defence exports promotion – comprising the majority of UK Defence and Security Exports, a body that helps British arms companies export – will move from the Department for Business and Trade to the Ministry of Defence.
The transfer of this responsibility was announced in the Strategic Defence Review published earlier this week.
This move will enable the government to “develop a single defence export offer driving a significant and sustained improvement to performance while giving stronger backing to our world-class defence industry”, in line with the upcoming defence industrial strategy, the PM said.
Labour’s general election manifesto promised to establish a defence industrial strategy “aligning our security and economic priorities”, which it said would “ensure a strong defence sector and resilient supply chains, including steel, across the whole of the UK”.
The MoD opened recruitment for a national armaments director to help fix the "broken" defence procurement system in October. The director would be responsible for reforming defence procurement as well as delivering the industrial strategy, it said.
The ministry then announced plans for a Defence Industrial Joint Council in December.
Starmer said the new exports offer will “directly connect exports with the MoD’s wider procurement and international activity”.
And he said the creation of a single departmental lead for defence exports – which will come into effect on 31 July – will support the government’s economic growth mission.
Responsibility for security and cyber exports will remain in DBT.