Labour government begins to dish out digital responsibilities

The new Labour government is in the process of appointing its ministers, including those responsible for digital at the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC).

This includes Karin Smyth, Labour MP for Bristol South, who has been announced as minister for health, covering secondary care.

Smyth, who was previously Labour’s shadow minister for health, will be responsible for the controversial NHS Federated Data Platform (FDP). The platform is designed to improve data and analytics in the NHS. However, NHS England awarded the £330m contract to run the platform to controversial US data platform Palantir, prompting concerns from from data privacy practitioners.

The roll-out of the platform is currently underway, with pilot sites in the process of transitioning to the NHS FDP. Smyth will also share responsibility for NHS data and tech cyber security.

Another minister who will have tech responsibilities at DHSC is newly appointed care minister Stephen Kinnock, whose responsibilities include technological innovation, system assurance, data and the integration of health and social care.

The acceleration of technology in the social care sector has been slow, as social care has struggled with financial constraints and less funding than its counterparts in the NHS. However, in April 2023, the government announced it was pumping £100m for digital social care, including digitising social care records.

Health and social care secretary Wes Streeting has already announced the DHSC will become a department that drives innovation and economic growth.

Other ministers include Andrew Western, who will be responsible for transformation at the Department for Work and Pensions as its transformation minister, which is a brand new post. His responsibilities include digital, artificial intelligence and service modernisation.

HM Treasury has appointed financial secretary Lord Livermore to oversee innovation and digital, and economic secretary Tulip Siddiq will be in charge of fintech policy and crypto.

At the new “digital centre of government”, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), junior ministers and their responsibilities have yet to be announced, however the department is already going through changes. With Cabinet Office losing the Government Digital Service (GDS), the Incubator for Artificial Intelligence and the Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO) to DSIT, there are likely to be several ministers who will each get tech responsibilities.

Some junior ministers have already been announced, including Chris Bryant and Feryal Clark – however, their responsibilities have yet to be confirmed.

DSIT secretary of state Peter Kyle has already been vocal about DSIT and its role in government as a future “partner and standard bearer for government departments”, adding that the department will support others in the use of technology across public services.

Kyle was previously shadow secretary at the department and was instrumental in developing Labour’s technology strategy, including plans for the development of AI and proposed reform of the rules governing new datacentre developments, among other things.