BERR

The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform ('BERR'), which was the rebranded Department for Trade and Industry, is again changing its name after only 2 years.  BERR is to be merged with the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) in a move by the government ““...to build Britain’s capabilities to compete in the global economy”.   The new department will be aptly named the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). 

In a recent press release, the government outlined their reasons for the merger saying:

“It combines BERR’s strengths in shaping the enterprise environment, analysing the strengths and needs of the various parts of British industry, building strategies for industrial strength and expertise in better regulation with DIUS’s expertise in maintaining world class universities, expanding access to higher education, investing in the UK’s science base and shaping skills policy and innovation through bodies such as the Technology Strategy Board”.

Many people are cynical about the government’s decision to create a “super department”, worrying that many of the fringe issues that were so important to some businesses that BERR dealt with, may be forgotten because of the size of new department.  Others are outraged at the government spending of yet more tax payer’s money on effectively what they see to be just another rebranding.  Time will only tell whether the other aim of the department, which is to help Britain out of the recession, will be a success, or whether the time and money spent organizing a merger between BERR and DIUS might have been better spent designing and implementing measures to save businesses instead. 

The change took place on 5 June 2009.  Presently, the new department doesn’t have its own website but the old BERR website has been amended and is being used for the time being.

For more information please do not hesitate to contact one of the employment team at Follett Stock.