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The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government will become the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities as the Government delivers on its central mission to level up every part of the UK. The change comes as former Bank of England Chief Economist Andy Haldane was today appointed as the new Head of the Levelling Up Taskforce. The taskforce has been jointly established by the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Michael Gove MP. The Secretary of State will drive cross-Whitehall efforts to deliver a programme of tangible improvements in every part of the UK as we build back better from the pandemic, and deliver on the people’s priorities. The Secretary of State will have responsibility for United Kingdom governance and elections. He will therefore also take on the additional title of Minister for Intergovernmental Relations, working closely with the Territorial Offices and leading coordination with the devolved administrations on the Prime Minister’s behalf. He will be supported in the department by new Minister of State Kemi Badenoch MP and Neil O’Brien MP, who has been appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State. Reappointed to the department are Ministers of State the Rt Hon Christopher Pincher MP and Lord Greenhalgh, and Parliamentary Under Secretary of State Eddie Hughes MP. Andy Haldane will join as a permanent secretary in the Cabinet Office on secondment from the Royal Society of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) for six months. He will head up the Levelling Up Taskforce that will report jointly to the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. |
