Decc closed as Greg Clark appointed new head of department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

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s300_TME_3790TME_3790_960The prime minister’s office has confirmed that the department of energy and climate change (Decc) is to be abolished. Responsibility for energy policy will now be the remit of an expanded business department.

Greg Clark, former head of the department for communities and local government, is the new secretary of state for the department of business, energy and industrial strategy.

The news was expected following former energy minister (turned new Defra secretary of state), Andrea Leadsom’s refusal to rule out the department’s closure at Decc Orals earlier on Thursday.

Many observers were surprised that the department survived the last general election. Decc was seen by industry as under resourced, given the scale of its task. Its image within Whitehall had suffered due to successive energy secretaries and ministers overseeing perceived failures in large project delivery.

Most recent Decc secretary of state, Amber Rudd, has been made home secretary following the reshuffle.

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