As the UK’s new governing party continues to appoint ministers to its team, an array of new faces have been given key digital and data responsibilities in various Whitehall departments
As the Labour administration continues to take shape, senior appointments have included a minister to oversee the NHS’s controversial £500m data platform and a dedicated minister for transformation at the Department for Work and Pensions.
The latter role – for which detailed responsibilities have not yet been specified – is to be held by Andrew Western, the MP for Stretford and Urmston. Western, who was first elected in a by-election in late 2022, was not slated for a DWP ministerial brief in Labour’s shadow cabinet plans before the election.
Alongside the work and pensions transformation brief – a newly created post – the Department of Health and Social Care has also announced two ministers with key technology responsibilities: secondary care minister Karin Smyth; and care minister Stephen Kinnock.
The former, in particular, could play a hugely important role in the health service’s use of tech and data.
Smyth’s portfolio includes oversight of the NHS Federated Data Platform which, using technology from big data firm Palantir, will provide a central infrastructure for trusts to share data while enabling nationwide bodies to collect health service information and tools at a national level. The decision to award US-based Palantir a potential £500m deal to deliver the new system has attracted much criticism, with those expressing concern about the contract including the human-rights charity Amnesty International and doctors’ union the British Medical Association, whose chair Dr Latifa Patel described the choice of supplier as “deeply worrying”.
Alongside the new data infrastructure, Smyth – the MP for Bristol South who was first elected in 2015 – will also have wider responsibility for NHS data and technology cybersecurity. The latter issue has been in sharp focus in recent weeks as major London hospitals continue to suffer the fallout of a recent ransomware assault on pathology provider Synnovis.
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Smyth’s colleague in the DHSC, Aberafan Maesteg MP Stephen Kinnock, will have ministerial responsibility for system assurance and data, and technology and innovation in the social care sector.
Meanwhile in HM Treasury, financial secretary Lord Livermore will oversee the department’s innovation and digital briefs, while economic secretary in Tulip Siddiq, the MP for Hampstead and Highgate, will hold responsibility for government’s policy on fintech, and crypto assets, as well taking leadership for the possible rollout of a central bank-issued digital currency.
Whitehall’s primary tech agency – the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, has also added to its ministerial team, following the initial appointments of secretary of state Peter Kyle and science minister Patrick Vallance.
Three more Labour parliamentarians have been confirmed to junior ministerial postings at DSIT: MPs Chris Bryant and Feryal Clark; and peer Baroness Jones of Whitchurch.
Details of the specific responsibilities of each of these have not yet been given.
Clark was not contained within Labour’s shadow ministerial line-up to the department in the run-up to the election. Two MPs that were – and were also endorsed by the Labour Digital movement – have seemingly been passed over for roles in government: Chi Onwurah; and Matt Rodda.
In one of its first major policy announcements, the Labour government last week unveiled plans for DSIT to be expanded with the addition of the Government Digital Service, Central Digital and Data Office, and Incubator for Artificial Intelligence. The three agencies, which bring with them about 1,000 civil servants and numerous cross-government responsibilities, are all currently based in the Cabinet Office.
Announcing the plans, secretary of state Kyle said: “DSIT is to become the centre for digital expertise and delivery in government, improving how the government and public services interact with citizens. We will act as a leader and partner across government, with industry and the research communities, to boost Britain’s economic performance and power up our public services to improve the lives and life chances of people through the application of science and technology.”
