London: A new Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has been established by Prime Minister, Gordon Brown and will be headed by a Labour Party rising star, Ed Miliband - the brother of Foreign Secretary David Miliband. This was part of the PM's cabinet reshuffle on Friday.
The combination of energy security and climate change illustrates the importance being attached to these issues of international concern, by the UK Government. The energy portfolio has been removed from the responsibilities of the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (DBERR), while climate change comes out of the Department for Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs (Defra).
DBERR will be controversially headed by Peter Mandleson on his third period in the Cabinet, following his widely recognised success as a trade commissioner in Brussels. This follows the movement of the previous Secretary of State, John Hutton to head Defence.
Hilary Benn continues to head Defra, though the implications of the loss of climate change are not yet clear, nor is the interrelationship with the new Department on waste management issues such as energy-from-waste.
The new Secretary of State, Ed Miliband, said:
"I am looking forward to the responsibility of running the new Department of Energy and Climate Change and working with colleagues across government, including in particular Hilary Benn, who has led Britain's work on climate change with skill and dedication.
"My job is to make sure our policy on climate change is fair for ordinary families and our policy on energy is sustainable for future generations."
"We will do all we can to ensure affordable fuel bills for people, put Britain at the forefront of creating green jobs and play our part in ensuring every country meets the climate change challenge."