Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills

The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) was a UK government department created on 28 June 2007 to take over some of the functions of the Department of Education and Skills and of the Department of Trade and Industry. Its head office was based at Kingsgate House, 66-74 Victoria Street, London SW1, which has now been demolished. In June 2009 it was merged into the newly formed Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. It was responsible for adult learning, some parts of further education, higher education, skills, science and innovation.
DIUS also had responsibility for a number of Non-Departmental Public Bodies (NDPBs). These included the Research Councils:
Other NDPBs sponsored by DIUS were:
In addition DIUS was the sponsor department for [NESTA] - the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts ()
Only some of DIUS's functions were UK-wide: it oversaw the science budget, provided through the Research Councils, for the UK as a whole. On the other hand, education is a devolved matter and there were corresponding departments in the Northern Ireland Executive, Scottish Government and Welsh Assembly Government.
The only Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills was the Rt Hon John Denham MP.
The first Permanent Secretary, Ian Watmore, moved to a new appointment, leading to the appointment of Sir Jon Shortridge.
The Department's strategic objectives were to
A number of education functions of the former DfES (largely those focussed on the 14 - 19 age group) were taken over by the Department for Children, Schools and Families.