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. When you're actually in an industry or you're trying to run a business, that that that is clear," the junior minister said.

Any business trying to build a datacenter might also want to know how to get power to it. As far as The Register can figure out, that would be the Department for Energy and Net Zero. Planning permission rests with local government, although the overall policy lies with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. It may be clear, but it is hardly simple.

The problem is real, though. Earlier this month, Microsoft pulled out of plans for Britain's largest AI supercomputer because of difficulties securing power for the facility.

Elsewhere in the hearing, Lloyd was asked about the government's early 2025 claim that modernizing aging technology and digitizing processes could deliver 45 billion in productivity savings.

Asked if the government stood by the figure, the junior minister said: "The 45 billion figure was an estimate of long-term productivity gains. It wasn't a kind of one-off figure for savings... it was never a figure that was a target or a cashable savings figure."

When the figure was publicized under the Starmer government in January 2025, the press release was headed "Archaic tech sees public sector miss 45 billion annual savings." It continued: "Taxpayer funded services from the NHS to local councils are missing out on 45 billion in productivity savings because they are too often dependent on old and outdated technology."

It claimed the government would "tackle these issues" using "digital tools, AI and common sense to overhaul public sector technology." (R)