Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
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Department overview | |
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Formed | May 2006 |
Jurisdiction | England |
Headquarters | 2 Marsham Street, London, England and i9 Railway Drive, Wolverhampton, England |
Annual budget | £28.1 billion (current) & £3.5 billion (capital) for 2011–12 [1] |
Minister responsible |
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Department executive |
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Website | www |
This article is part of a series on |
Politics of the United Kingdom |
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The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), formerly the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG),[2] is the UK Government department for housing, communities, local government in England and the levelling up policy. It was established in May 2006 and is the successor to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, established in 2001. The department shares its headquarters building, at 2 Marsham Street in London, with the Home Office. From summer 2021, 500 members of staff and civil servants will start to relocate to Wolverhampton as the department prepares to be first UK government department to have a headquarters based outside of London. It is hoped the move will be completed by 2025. It was renamed to add Housing to its title and changed to a ministry in January 2018, and later reverted to a government department in the 2021 reshuffle.
There are corresponding departments in the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government and the Northern Ireland Executive, responsible for communities and local government in their respective jurisdictions.
Ministers[]
The DLUHC's ministers are as follows:[3]
Minister | Title | Portfolio |
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The Rt Hon. Michael Gove MP | Secretary of State | Strategic oversight of the Department’s business; Cross-cutting responsibility for Levelling Up. |
Kemi Badenoch MP | Minister of State for Levelling Up Communities | Local government engagement, policy & finance; Devolution and the Devolution White Paper; Levelling up; Climate change; UK Shared Prosperity Fund; Mayoral Combined Authorities; Pan-regional growth bodies; Local digital; Freeports; Planning casework. |
The Rt Hon. Stuart Andrew MP | Minister of State for Housing | DLUHC COVID-19 Shielding Programme; Home ownership; Housing strategy; Social housing; Homes England Stewardship; Private Rented Sector; Planning reform; Commons Minister on Building Safety. |
The Rt Hon. The Lord Greenhalgh | Minister of State for Building Safety and Fire (jointly with Home Office) | Building Safety Programme; Grenfell recovery and public inquiry; Resilience and Emergencies Minister, including transformation and non-Covid/Transition winter response (e.g. flooding); Leasehold and freehold abuses; faith and communities; Holocaust Memorial; Departmental business in the House of Lords. |
Eddie Hughes MP | Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Housing and Rough Sleeping | Homelessness and rough sleeping; Supported housing; New Homes Ombudsman & redress; Support for Housing Minister on Private Rented Sector; Troubled Families; Domestic abuse; High streets, towns and cities; Social housing; White Paper; Community assets; Departmental SI Minister; Corporate matters. |
Neil O'Brien MP | Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Levelling Up, The Union and Constitution | |
Victoria Atkins MP | Minister of State (jointly with Ministry of Justice and Home Office) Minister for Afghan Resettlement |
The minister works to ensure Afghans arriving in the UK receive the vital support they need to rebuild their lives, find work, pursue education and integration into their local communities. |
The Permanent Secretary is Jeremy Pocklington who took up his post on 30 March 2020.
Henry Smith was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on 26 May 2015.[4]
History[]
DLUHC was formed in July 2001 as part of the Cabinet Office with the title Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM), headed by the then Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott. In May 2002 the ODPM became a separate department after absorbing the local government and regions portfolios from the defunct Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions. The ODPM was criticised in some quarters for adding little value and the Environmental Audit Committee had reported negatively on the department in the past.[5][6] During the 5 May 2006 reshuffle of Tony Blair's government, it was renamed and Ruth Kelly succeeded David Miliband to become the first Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government at the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG). In January 2018, as part of Theresa May's Cabinet reshuffle, the department was renamed the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). In September 2021, Boris Johnson renamed the department yet again, calling it the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), being more powers outside of just England to manage funds across the United Kingdom.[7]
On 20 February 2021, it was announced as part of the government's levelling up policy, that DLUHC would be the first government department to have a headquarters based outside of London. Five hundred posts, including those of senior civil servants, will be moving to Wolverhampton by 2025.[8]
On 23 February 2021, the then Secretary of State, Robert Jenrick, announced he was hopeful that staff would be working in Wolverhampton by the summer of 2021. He also announced that they were considering building a new office development in or around the city centre to house the new headquarters. The Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, suggested it should be within walking distance of local newspaper Express & Star, where he previously did work experience.[9]
As DLUHC looks set to relocate some 500 members of staff to Wolverhampton, Robert Jenrick officially opened its new Wolverhampton offices at the recently completed i9 office development on 10 September 2021. At the opening of the new office development the Secretary of State was joined by the leader of City of Wolverhampton Council Ian Brookfield and the West Midlands Mayor, Andy Street.[10]
Secretaries of State[]
- David Miliband 11 May 2005 – 5 May 2006
- Ruth Kelly 5 May 2006 – 27 June 2007
- Hazel Blears 27 June 2007 – 5 June 2009
- John Denham 5 June 2009 – 11 May 2010
- Eric Pickles 12 May 2010 – 11 May 2015
- Greg Clark 11 May 2015 – 14 July 2016
- Sajid Javid 13 July 2016 – 30 April 2018
- James Brokenshire 30 April 2018 – 24 July 2019
- Robert Jenrick 24 July 2019 – 15 September 2021
- Michael Gove 15 September 2021 – present
Responsibilities[]
The department is responsible for UK Government policy in the following areas, mainly in England:[11]
- Building regulations
- Community cohesion
- Community resilience (i.e. flood, natural disaster or severe weather preparedness and recovery) [12]
- Housing
- Local government
- Planning
- Race equality
- Urban regeneration (including The Thames Gateway)
Levelling Up[]
The Levelling Up Taskforce was formed in September 2021 headed by former Bank of England Chief Economist Andy Haldane.[13] The Levelling Up policy was not initially defined in detail,[14] but would include:[15][16]
- Investing in towns, cities, and rural and coastal areas
- Giving those areas more control of how investment is made
- Levelling up skills using apprenticeships and a £3 billion National Skills Fund
- Helping the farming and fishing industries
- Creating up to 10 freeports to help deprived communities
Bodies sponsored by DLUHC[]
Executive agencies[]
- Planning Inspectorate
- Queen Elizabeth II Centre
The department also was previously responsible for two other agencies. On 18 July 2011 Ordnance Survey was transferred to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills[17] and on 28 February 2013 the Fire Service College was sold to Capita.[18]
Non-departmental public bodies[]
In January 2007, Ruth Kelly announced proposals to bring together the delivery functions of the Housing Corporation, English Partnerships and parts of the then Department for Housing, Communities and Local Government to form a new unified housing and regeneration agency, the Homes and Communities Agency (renamed Homes England in 2018). Initially announced as Communities England, it became operational in December 2008. This also includes the Academy for Sustainable Communities. 2008 was also the year that the department along with the Local Government Association produced the National Improvement and Efficiency Strategy [19] which led to the creation of nine Regional Improvement and Efficiency Partnerships (RIEPs) with devolved funding of £185m to drive sector-led improvement for councils.
Devolution[]
Its main counterparts in the devolved nations of the UK are as follows.
Scotland
- Communities Directorates
- Learning and Justice Directorates
Northern Ireland
- Executive Office (civil resilience, community cohesion, race relations)
- Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (local government, planning)
- Department of Finance (building regulations)
- Department of Health (fire services)
- Department for Communities (housing, urban regeneration)
Wales
- Welsh Government Department for Local Government and Public Services
See also[]
- Budget of the United Kingdom
- Council house
- Energy efficiency in British housing
- Flag protocol
- Homes and Communities Agency
- Local Resilience Forum
- English Partnerships
- Housing Corporation
- Housing estate
- Regions of England
- Social Exclusion Task Force
- Local Government Association
- Regional Improvement and Efficiency Partnership
References[]
- ^ Budget 2011 (PDF). London: HM Treasury. 2011. p. 48. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 April 2011. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
- ^ Hansard 22 January 2018 column 19
- ^ "Our ministers". GOV.UK. Department for Communities and Local Government. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
- ^ "Sussex News – Latest local news, pictures, video – Kent Live". www.kentlive.news.
- ^ "Environmental report slams ODPM over sustainable code". Building.(subscription required)
- ^ Knight, Sam (5 May 2006). "Prescott loses his dream home the megadepartment". The Times. London.
- ^ Coates, Sam (18 September 2021). "Confirmed: The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government will become the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. As we reported was under discussion on Thursday". Twitter. Twitter. Archived from the original on 18 September 2021. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
- ^ Madeley, Peter. "First government department HQ outside London to be based in Wolverhampton". www.expressandstar.com.
- ^ Madeley, Peter (23 February 2021). "Hundreds of civil servants set to be stationed in new purpose-built office". Express & Star. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
- ^ "From Whitehall to Wolverhampton: Government branches out with city move". Express & Star. 10 September 2021. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
- ^ "Government ministers and responsibilities". GOV.UK.
- ^ "Resilience in society: infrastructure, communities and businesses". GOV.UK.
- ^ Cordon, Gavin (18 September 2021). "Michael Gove heads rebranded 'Department for Levelling Up'". Evening Standard. London. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
- ^ "Levelling up". Centre for Cities. 17 June 2021. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
- ^ "What is levelling up and how is it going?". BBC News. 11 May 2021. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
- ^ "The Levelling Up Agenda". House of Commons Library. UK Parliament. 11 June 2021. CDP 2021/0086. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
- ^ "Ordnance Survey becomes part of Department for Business Innovation and Skills". Archived from the original on 20 January 2012. Retrieved 9 September 2011.
- ^ "Fire Service College sold to Capita". 28 February 2013 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
- ^ "National Improvement and Efficiency Strategy". Archived from the original on 27 January 2008.
External links[]
- Official website
- Local Government Channel
- Communities UK YouTube channel
- Ministerial departments of the Government of the United Kingdom
- Local government in England
- Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
- 2006 establishments in the United Kingdom
- 2006 establishments in England
- Housing ministries
- Spatial planning ministries
- Ministries established in 2006
- Governance of England
- Local government ministries