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Department for Communities and Local Government

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Formed
  
May 2006

Founded
  
May 2006

Jurisdiction
  
England

Website
  
www.gov.uk/dclg

Headquarters
  
London


Annual budget
  
£28.1 billion (current) & £3.5 billion (capital) for 2011-12

Minister responsible
  
The Rt Hon. Sajid Javid MP, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government

Department executive
  
Melanie Dawes, Permanent Secretary

Profiles

Fight for sites evict the department for communities and local government


The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) is the UK Government department for communities and local government in England. It was established in May 2006 and is the successor to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, established in 2001. Its headquarters is located at 2 Marsham Street, London.

Contents

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.

Claire cooper department for communities and local government


Ministers

The Communities and Local Government ministers are as follows:

As well as working at the Department for Communities and Local Government, Richard Harrington works jointly at the Home Office and the Department for International Development.

The Permanent Secretary is Melanie Dawes who took up her post on 1 March 2015.

Henry Smith was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on 26 May 2015.

Background

DCLG 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. During the 5 May 2006 reshuffle of Tony Blair's government, it was renamed and Ruth Kelly became the first Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.

Responsibilities

The department is responsible for UK Government policy in the following areas, mainly in England:

  • building regulations
  • community cohesion
  • decentralisation
  • fire services and community resilience
  • housing
  • local government
  • planning
  • race equality
  • the Thames Gateway
  • urban regeneration
  • On its creation it also assumed the community policy function of the Home Office. Ministers have since established the Commission on Integration and Cohesion, and the now separate Government Equalities Office.

    Executive agencies

  • Planning Inspectorate
  • Queen Elizabeth II Conference 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 and on 28 February 2013 the Fire Service College was sold to Capita.

    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 Department for Communities and Local Government to form a new unified housing and regeneration agency, the Homes and Communities Agency. 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 which led to the creation of 9 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

  • Governance and Communities Directorate
  • Justice Directorate
  • Northern Ireland

  • Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister (civil resilience, community cohesion, race relations)
  • Department of the Environment (local government, planning)
  • Department of Finance and Personnel (building regulations)
  • Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (fire services)
  • Department for Social Development (housing, urban regeneration)
  • Wales

  • Department for Communities & Local Government (local government, housing, urban regeneration, civil resilience, fire services, community cohesion, race relations)
  • Department of Environment & Sustainable Development (planning)
  • References

    Department for Communities and Local Government Wikipedia