LONDON — Andy Burnham has asked officials to draw up plans to abolish the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, according to the primary sources. The plans have not yet been signed off.

Burnham's advisers have asked officials to work up plans to hand over much of science and technology policy to a more powerful business department. The business department receiving those responsibilities is set to be led by Jonathan Reynolds. Responsibility for overseeing the use of artificial intelligence in the public sector would be given to Antonia Romeo rather than a minister.

Burnham, the MP for Makerfield, will officially take over as prime minister on Monday. He will spend Monday afternoon making his most significant cabinet appointments. He is likely to make a series of policy announcements later in the week following those appointments.

The policy announcements are expected to include a cost of living package that could involve action to reduce the costs of housing, energy and transport. Shabana Mahmood is likely to be appointed as chancellor.

The proposed reorganisation has drawn criticism from figures in the technology sector. Matt Clifford, an adviser on AI to Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak, posted on X that this would be a big mistake, saying right now is a critical moment for tech as an economic and national security issue and that tying up senior science and tech officials in a reorganisation would waste time and energy needed for substantive work.

Dom Hallas, the executive director of the Startup Coalition, also posted on X to voice his opposition. He said changes to DSIT had prompted calls to him and would be a mistake, adding that a mega business department would mean British tech competing with British steel for attention and wasting six months on reorganisation when time is of the essence.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology was established to centralise government oversight of science, technology and innovation policy. The proposed abolition and transfer of responsibilities to a restructured business department represents a significant shift in how the government intends to manage technology policy. Artificial intelligence has become a prominent policy area, with foreign secretary Yvette Cooper stating she thought AI would be the major foreign policy question of the next two years. In a speech last year, Keir Starmer called AI the defining opportunity of our generation. Google bought the British company DeepMind in 2014, reflecting the commercial significance of the sector.