Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Defunct ministerial department of the government of the United Kingdom
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) was a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It was created by the Gordon Brown premiership on 5 June 2009 by the merger of the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills and the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. It was disbanded by the Theresa May premiership on the creation of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on 14 July 2016.[2]
| |
 | |
| Department overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 5 June 2009 |
| Preceding Department | |
| Dissolved | 14 July 2016 |
| Superseding Department | |
| Jurisdiction | United Kingdom |
| Headquarters | 1, Victoria Street, London |
| Annual budget | £16.5 billion (current) and £1.3 billion (capital) for 2011-12 [1] |
| Child agencies | |
| Website | www.gov.uk/bis |
Secretaries of State for Business, Innovation and Skills
| Name | Portrait | Took office | Left office | Length of term | Political party | Prime Minister | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peter Mandelson |  |
5 June 2009 | 11 May 2010 | 11 months and 6 days | Labour | Gordon Brown | ||
| Vince Cable | .jpg) |
12 May 2010 | 8 May 2015 | 4 years, 11 months and 26 days | Liberal Democrats | David Cameron (Coalition) | ||
| Sajid Javid |  |
12 May 2015 | 14 July 2016 | 1 year, 2 months and 3 days | Conservative | David Cameron (II) | ||
The Permanent Secretary was Sir Martin Donnelly.
Responsibilities
Some policies apply to England alone due to devolution, while others are not devolved and therefore apply to other nations of the United Kingdom. The department was responsible for UK Government policy in the following areas:[3]
- business regulation and support
- company law
- competition
- consumer affairs
- corporate governance
- employment relations
- export licensing
- further education
- higher education
- innovation
- insolvency
- intellectual property
- outer space
- postal affairs
- regional and local economic development
- science and research
- skills
- trade
- training
Devolution
Economic policy is mostly devolved but several important policy areas are reserved to Westminster. Further and higher education policy is mostly devolved. Reserved and excepted matters are outlined below.
Scotland
Reserved matters:[4]
- Competition
- Customer protection
- Import and export control
- Insolvency
- Intellectual property
- Outer space
- Postal services
- Product standards, safety and liability
- Research councils
- Telecommunications
- Time
- Business associations
- Weights and measures in relation to goods
The Scottish Government Economy and Education Directorates handle devolved economic and further and higher education policy respectively.
Northern Ireland
Reserved matters:[5]
- Consumer safety in relation to goods
- Import and export controls, external trade
- Intellectual property
- Postal services
- Telecommunications
- Units of measurement
Excepted matter:[6]
The department's main counterparts are:[7]
- Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (general economic policy)
- Department for Employment and Learning (employment relations, further and higher education policy)
Wales
Under the Welsh devolution settlement, specific policy areas are transferred to the Welsh Government rather than reserved to Westminster.