Want to build a UK datacenter? Please hold while Whitehall transfers you

Building a UK datacenter spans three government departments: one handles datacenter policy, another telecoms, and a third energy.

MPs this week explored what Prime Minister Andy Burnham's summer reshuffle means for businesses navigating Whitehall.

Liz Lloyd, parliamentary under-secretary of state, sits across two departments with a portfolio of responsibilities as long as a weekly shopping list. She explained to MPs this week that, following the decision to get rid of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), liaison with the tech industry on datacenter construction fell to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (BIST).

Lloyd, who works across BIST and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), went on to explain that digital infrastructure sits within DCMS.

Speaking to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee, Lloyd acknowledged that some departmental responsibilities overlapped.

"In terms of sector responsibilities, that is clear that technology, sorry, that telecom sits with DCMS and datacenters with BIST. …