The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) could be abolished as part of the machinery of government changes.

The ongoing government reshuffle may result in the department, first created in 2007, being broken up with its responsibilities moved to the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) and Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF).

It has already been reported that the department is to lose science and skills, areas that will now be the responsibility of Lord Mandelson at BERR.

Both areas were removed from BERR's predecessor, the Department for Trade and Industry, when DIUS was created two years ago.

A director at the skills department this morning used social media site Twitter to speculate that Gordon Brown’s reorganisation would see the abolition of DIUS. “Don't know: you can't go for a coffee and blueberry muffin without your department being abolished,” the official wrote.

Asked for comment, a DIUS spokesman said any changes to departments were the responsibility of Number 10.