Catalogue description Records of the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills

The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) was created on 28 June 2007 to bring together functions from the former Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), including responsibilities for science and innovation, with further and higher education and skills which were previously part of the former Department for Education and Skills (DfES).

At its creation, DIUS’s role was to:

• Sustain and develop a world-class research base;
• Maximise the exploitation of the research base to support innovation across all sectors of the economy; Raise and widen participation in Higher Education;
• Raise participation and attainment by young people and adults in post-16 education and learning;
• Tackle the skills gap amongst adults, particularly equipping people with basic literacy and numeracy;
• Increase the supply of people in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

DIUS also had responsibility for a number of Non-Departmental Public Bodies (NDPBs). These included the Research Councils: Medical Research Council; Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC); Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC); The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC); The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC); The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC); and The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). Other NDPBs sponsored by DIUS were The Technology Strategy Board and The Design Council. DIUS was also the sponsor department for the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA).

In June 2009, DIUS was merged with the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) to form the new Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS)