Andy Burnham\u2019s plan to scrap the government\u2019s technology department has triggered an angry backlash from MPs, Whitehall officials and tech experts.<\/p>\n
The incoming prime minister has asked officials<\/a> to draw up plans to abolish the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology as part of a wider Whitehall shake-up.<\/p>\n The plans have not yet been signed off, but they are causing significant disquiet among experts inside and outside government.<\/p>\n The backlash comes amid concerns in the Labour party about some of Burnham\u2019s early decisions, including the likely appointment of Shabana Mahmood as chancellor<\/a>.<\/p>\n Matt Clifford, an adviser on AI to the outgoing prime minister, Keir Starmer, and his predecessor, Rishi Sunak, posted on X: \u201cThis would be a big mistake. Right now is a critical moment for tech as an economic and national security issue. Tying up our most senior science and tech officials in a [reorganisation] wastes time and energy that\u2019s desperately needed for the actual substance.\u201d<\/p>\n One Labour<\/a> MP referred to the plans as \u201cgetting rid of the department of the future\u201d.<\/p>\n Sources familiar with the plans have told the Guardian Burnham\u2019s advisers asked officials to work up plans to hand over much of science and technology policy to a more powerful business department, to be led by the chief whip, Jonathan Reynolds.<\/p>\n Responsibility for overseeing the use of AI in the public sector would be given to the cabinet secretary, Antonia Romeo, rather than a minister.<\/p>\n People within the technology sector have reacted with alarm, saying AI and advanced technology are likely to dominate many of the government\u2019s policy decisions over the next few years.<\/p>\n Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary, recently said<\/a> she thought AI would be the major foreign policy question of the next two years.<\/p>\n