TL;DR

A company wanting to build a datacentre in the UK now deals with at least three government departments, The Register reported on 25 October. Liz Lloyd, a junior minister who works across two of them, told the Commons committee on science and technology that the division of responsibilities is clear to businesses. She also said a much-quoted £45 billion savings figure for modernising public sector technology was never a target.

Who does what

Lloyd said that once the government decided to scrap DSIT (Science, Innovation and Technology), liaising with industry on datacentre construction passed to BIST, the business department whose full title is Business, Innovation, Science and Trade. The committee was looking at how the summer reshuffle by Andy Burnham, now Prime Minister, affects firms dealing with Whitehall. Digital infrastructure, including telecoms, sits with DCMS (Culture, Media and Sport). Lloyd holds posts in both.

She accepted that some responsibilities overlap but insisted the lines were clear: “telecom sits with DCMS and datacenters with BIST”, she told MPs.

The Register pointed out that power connections fall to the energy department, and that planning decisions are made by local councils under national policy from MHCLG, the housing and local government ministry. Its verdict was that the arrangement “may be clear, but it is hardly simple”.

Why power matters

Grid access is a live issue. The Register cited Microsoft’s decision in October to pull out of what would have been Britain’s largest AI supercomputer because power for the site could not be secured, which we covered when Microsoft walked away from the Loughton deal.

The £45 billion figure

MPs also asked whether the government still backed its claim from January 2025 that updating ageing technology could save £45 billion. Lloyd described it as “an estimate of long-term productivity gains” and said it was never “a target or a cashable savings figure”. The original press release had said services were “missing out on £45 billion in productivity savings”.

Looking Forward

For the industry’s own proposals, see our report on the SAIL taskforce’s datacentre consent compact. In our view, a developer’s practical question is who can unblock a grid connection or a stalled planning application, and The Register’s account of the hearing does not name one. A single named point of contact across BIST, DCMS, energy and planning would do more for investment than a clear organisation chart.