The UK government's decision to relocate the Government Digital Service (GDS) to its third departmental home in three years risks losing skilled workers and distancing the agency from the center of political power, lawmakers heard this week. Laura Gilbert, former director of data science at 10 Downing Street, told the House of Commons Science, Innovation and Technology Committee that the GDS "fell into a bit of a fray" during the reorganization ordered by incoming Prime Minister Andy Burnham's team. The agency, which creates digital services across Britain's public sector, has now landed in the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).
Created in 2011 under the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition to bring public services online, the GDS stayed within the Cabinet Office until Sir Keir Starmer became Prime Minister for Labour in 2024, when it shifted to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). In January 2025, officials merged the GDS with the Central Digital and Data Office, which led the government's digital, data and technology function and handled strategy and standards. Under the latest reorganization since Burnham took office, the GDS now falls under the responsibility of Stephanie Peacock, Parliamentary under-secretary for sport, tourism, place and digital government. The agency has gained authority over centralized spending controls on all large-scale government digital and IT projects, requiring departments to obtain GDS approval for major software or hardware purchases.
Gilbert, who departed Downing Street in 2005 for positions at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change and Larry Ellison's Institute of Technology, said the GDS was initially "significantly disempowered" when it transferred to DSIT. She told MPs she was "genuinely quite surprised" by the latest move, adding: "It's difficult to know whether somebody won that fight and therefore won GDS, or it was more incidental and it was played off against something else." According to Gilbert, the previous relocation from the Cabinet Office to DSIT created confusion about where decisions take place and failed to account for "expert leadership" in technology who might grasp the knock-on effects. Alex Thomas, Executive Director of the Institute for Government, said the GDS "had found quite a successful home" in DSIT before being moved again, warning that his "main worry is of diffusion of responsibilities and the kind of grinding of gears that's going to be required to make that work."
Gilbert warned that constant departmental shifts demoralize technology teams and raise the risk that individuals will leave. Describing the disruption to MPs, she explained that teams face uncertainty over new buildings, email addresses, server setups, office locations, budget freezes, and political sponsorship. "People are dissatisfied," she said, adding that staff "start looking for jobs in other departments" and outside government, where "the best people find those jobs very quickly." The problem stems from a failure to consult technology leadership during reorganizations—Gilbert said that as far as she was aware, there was no conversation with senior leaders of the teams being moved. Meanwhile, responsibility for AI implementation and policy has gone to Kanishka Narayan, who receives the Cabinet-attending role of Minister for Artificial Intelligence, working jointly in the Cabinet Office and BIST. In a letter to the Committee, ministers from the Cabinet Office, BIST and DCMS said the Prime Minister made changes "to rewire the state to deliver a stronger, more strategic center which acts as the engine room for driving economic growth," reflecting that "the UK stands at a critical juncture" demanding leadership in AI, science and technology. Frequent reorganizations without input from technical experts may inadvertently weaken the very capabilities government seeks to strengthen. For organizations competing for digital talent against private sector offers, institutional instability becomes a competitive disadvantage that compounds over time.