Building Digital UK integration has been announced as the latest triumph of making government simpler by giving the same work a different corridor. From 1 November, BDUK will become a directorate inside the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. Its contracts and programmes will continue unchanged. The broadband will remain where it is. The organisational chart will not.
Building Digital UK integration meets the great reshuffle
The change forms part of a government wide review of arms length bodies. In other words, officials have inspected a perfectly serviceable shed and decided it would work better as a room in the house. Nobody has yet found the lawnmower.
BDUK improves broadband and mobile coverage in hard to reach parts of the UK. Its work includes Project Gigabit and the Shared Rural Network. The department says both programmes will continue. That should reassure anyone who has watched a public body move offices while insisting that nothing has moved.
An imaginary integration officer called the change seamless. Then the officer spent eleven minutes looking for the form that confirmed it. The form had moved to a directorate. It was waiting for a new identity badge.
Continuity arrives with more meetings
The government says earlier coverage targets were met ahead of schedule. It also remains committed to nationwide gigabit coverage. That is the useful part of the announcement. The less useful part is the habit of treating an organisational reshuffle as though it has personally laid the fibre.
Existing contractors do not need to take action. They may still want copies of every email. The same programme could acquire a third home before lunch. Nothing has changed, except the building, the stationery, the reporting line and the number of people explaining why nothing has changed.
The real achievement of Building Digital UK integration is its promise of continuity. It also creates a fresh supply of introductory meetings. One briefing will explain that the briefing is not a change to the programme. Another will decide whether the word “programme” still belongs in the department.
By 2032, the government expects 99% of premises to have access to a gigabit capable connection. The remaining 1% can presumably attend a review of the building’s relationship with its filing system. At least the cables will know exactly who to blame.
Source: Building Digital UK and Department for Science, Innovation and Technology announcement.
