On Tuesday 7^th February 2023, Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, conducted a reshuffle of his Cabinet - not a major one, but a relatively significant one, which included a restructuring of several government departments, and means we have a fifth Housing Minster in four months, with Lucy Frazer leaving the post after just 91 days. Perhaps the biggest change has been the re-organisation and creation of four new Departments – something Rishi Sunak had indicated that he would like to do during the summer leadership election.

Read on for the details of yesterday’s announcements, and an overview of new relevant Cabinet appointments.

The ‘Machinery of Government’ changes include:

• The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and the Department for International Trade have been scrapped and merged into the new Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, the Department for Business and Trade and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
• The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport will be re-focussed, losing digital (which goes to the newly created Department of Science, Innovation and Technology) but retains culture, media and sport.

The move to create new Whitehall departments in order that they get sufficient attention from the government machine suggests that there are two new Sunak priorities emerging: energy security, and digital and science policy.

The new Department for Energy Security and Net Zero - tasked with securing the country’s long-term energy supply, bringing down bills and halving inflation - demonstrates the Government’s commitment to energy supply and the need to secure more energy from domestic nuclear and renewable sources as we seize the opportunities of Net Zero, allowing two fundamentally important issues to be tied closer together with greater ministerial focus. It also suggests that the Government is taking on board recommendations from Chris Skidmore MP, who led the recent Net Zero Review, which concluded that the current approach was insufficient.

The new Department for Business and Trade will take the lead on previously BEIS briefs, notably the automotive, aerospace and services sectors, market frameworks and trade and opportunities. It has been long felt by many that business and trade under one department would allow for more joined-up thinking.

Among the new cabinet appointments, the below are of note:

• Grant Shapps becomes Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (previously Secretary of State for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy)
• Kemi Badenoch becomes Secretary of State for Business and Trade and retains her roles of President of the Board of Trade and Minister for Women and Equalities (previously Secretary of State for International Trade)
• Lucy Frazer becomes Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (previously Minister of State for Housing)
• Rachel Maclean has been appointed Minister of State at the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (previously Minister of State at Ministry of Justice)
• Greg Hands is promoted to Chairman of the Conservative Party (previously Minister of State for Trade Policy)

We are awaiting an official announcement from Government on her responsibilities; however, it is likely that Rachel Maclean will pick up the Housing and Planning Minister brief, which includes home ownership and the homebuying and selling process, tackling leasehold and freehold abuses, and planning reform, following Lucy Frazer’s departure from the role.

The following junior appointments have also been confirmed, with the majority retaining the same or similar remits to their previous roles. Further appointments are expected in due course:

• Graham Stuart becomes Minister of State in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (previously Minister for Energy and Climate)
• Nigel Huddleston is now Minister of State in the Department for Business and Trade (previously Parliamentary Under Secretary in the Department for International Trade and Government Whip)
• Nusrat Ghani becomes Minister in the Department for Business and Trade and the Cabinet Office (previously Minister for Industry and Investment Security)
• Andrew Bowie moves to be Parliamentary Under Secretary in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (previously Minister for Exports)

We will continue to provide members with further relevant updates and changes to ministerial responsibilities as they are announced.