Ministers appointed to new energy department

The ministerial roster for the newly formed Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has been filled out by prime minister Theresa May.

Nick Hurd and Baroness Neville-Rolfe have both been appointed as ministers. Margot James has been named as an under-secretary.

Last week the Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) was scrapped as May enacted a drastic cabinet reshuffle. Decc was folded into the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) to form BEIS. Greg Clarke was appointed as its secretary of state.  

Nick Hurd – the MP for Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner – was previously an under-secretary for international development. Since being elected to parliament in 2005, he has served on the environmental audit committee as well as the joint committee for the draft climate change bill in 2007.

He is also a member of the Conservative Environment Network, alongside former energy minister Lord Barker and ex-London mayoral candidate Zac Goldsmith.

Honoured by invitation from PM to be part of new government and join @gregclarkmp and team as MOS at exciting new Business Department #BEIS

— Nick Hurd MP (@nickhurdmp) July 16, 2016

Baroness Neville-Rolfe was appointed to the House of Lords in 2013 and has served as an under-secretary for both BIS and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. She started her career working as a civil servant and since then has worked on the boards of a number of major companies, including ITV, Tesco and PwC.  She was also a non-executive director for the Carbon Trust between 2008 and 2013.

Margot James was elected to parliament in 2010 as the member for Stourbridge. Until now she has only held one government post as an assistant whip. James has served on the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee and chaired a panel tasked with promoting the Green Deal scheme among women.

Jo Johnson – the MP for Orpington and younger brother of Boris Johnson – has also been appointed as a BEIS minister, leading on universities and science.

A post on the BEIS website said it will be responsible for “ensuring that the country has secure energy supplies” which are “reliable, affordable and clean” as well as “tackling climate change”.

Last week’s cabinet reshuffle saw former energy secretary Amber Rudd appointed as the new home secretary and the former energy minister Andrea Leadsom as the new environment secretary. Former energy under-secretary Lord Bourne is now an under-secretary for the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Reactions to merging of the business and energy departments have been mixed. Some people have raised concerns that it may symbolise a weakening of the government’s resolve to tackle climate change, whilst others have said it is a logical move which recognises the crucial role of the energy sector within the economy.

The appointment of Greg Clarke has been widely welcomed, in particular because of his advocacy of the compatibility of decarbonisation with economic growth.