New prime minister Andy Burnham has kept Lisa Nandy as culture secretary but expanded her department to include digital following the closure of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).

Burnham took over as prime minister on Monday following Keir Starmer’s resignation. Many of his new Cabinet ministers are new appointments but Nandy has retained her job.

Her department, previously the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, is now the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DDCMS).

It has been expanded to take over some of the responsibilities of DSIT which has been shut down, with former technology secretary Liz Kendall sacked.

The digital responsibilities of DDCMS are digital foundations, digital transformation, digital inclusion and skills, information resilience and online harms.

 

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Despite a backlash from many in the technology sector when its closure was rumoured before Burnham took over, he has shuttered DSIT, a department set up by former prime minister Rishi Sunak in 2023.

The Cabinet Office has taken over AI adoption in the civil service, AI strategy, public sector AI adoption and the AI Security Institute.

A new Office for the Prime Minister and the Cabinet (OPMC) is being established which will run an AI taskforce to oversee the government’s AI strategy.

Kanishka Narayan remains as AI minister, but he will now attend Cabinet, the first time in the UK that an AI minister has done so.

AI is a big issue in the creative industries with continued debate over copyright of content on AI platforms.

Earlier this year, the government has back tracked on its plan to allow AI companies to train their models using copyrighted works unless the rights holder opts out following strong protests from several groups and individuals in the creative sector.

In a consultation, only 3% of the 11,500 respondents backed the government’s preferred option.

The innovation responsibilities of DSIT have moved to an expanded business department. This likely includes Innovate UK and its R&D funding for creative businesses. The new department is called the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade. It’s led by Jonathan Reynolds, who was previously business secretary from July 2024 until September 2025.

In the government’s industrial strategy, the creative industries is one of eight priority sectors.

What should Andy Burnham do for the creative sector?

We would like to hear from BCI members about what they think the new government should do for the creative industries. If you are a member and you’d like to share your view which we’ll publish in an article, email a quote of around 100 words to [email protected]

Top image credit: Lauren Hurley / No 10 Downing Street

About Bristol Creative Industries

Bristol Creative Industries is the membership network that supports the region's creative sector to learn, grow and connect, driven by the common belief that we can achieve more collectively than alone.