5 May 2006
Some changes to the "machinery of government" have been announced:
Department for Communities and Local Government
The Prime Minister has created a new Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) under Ruth Kelly’s leadership.
DCLG will be the successor department to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM). It i s an expanded department with a powerful new remit to promote community cohesion and equality, as well as responsibility for housing, urban regeneration, planning and local government. DCLG will be much better placed to deliver on this important remit:
- It will unite the communities and civic renewal functions previously undertaken by the Home Office, with responsibility for regeneration, neighbourhood renewal and local government (previously held by the ODPM);
- It will bring together responsibility for equality policy, including policy on race, faith, gender and sexual orientation. These functions were previously split between several government departments. The Women and Equality Unit moves to DCLG from DTI . DCLG will also be the sponsor department for the new Commission for Equality and Human Rights. Responsibility for policy on disability and age equality will remain in the Department for Work and Pensions.
Ruth Kelly has also been appointed Cabinet Minister for Women, supported by a paid Parliamentary Secretary for Women and Equality.
Home Office
The transfer of the active communities and civic renewal functions leaves the Home Office to focus on its core areas: policing, prisons, probation, the fight against crime including anti-social behaviour and the respect agenda; immigration and asylum; and counter terrorism.
Cabinet Minister for Social Exclusion and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The Prime Minister has appointed Hilary Armstrong as Chancellor for the Duchy of Lancaster and the Cabinet Minister for Social Exclusion, based in the Cabinet Office. This new role will be to co-ordinate the Government’s agenda to tackle social exclusion. Hilary Armstrong will also take responsibility for the third sector, supported by a Parliamentary Secretary, drawing together the different parts of Whitehall that currently deal with voluntary and community sector organisations and social enterprises. A new office for the sector in the Cabinet Office will bring greater coherence to the Government’s approach to the sector.
Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary of State
John Prescott will remain as deputy Prime Minister. The Prime Minister has asked him to chair a number of major Cabinet Committees and to oversee the efficient development of Government policy. He has also asked him to continue with his international work particularly with regard to China and Eastern Europe, and, in recognition of his work in delivering the Kyoto Treaty, to work with the Foreign Secretary and the Secretary of State for the Environment on developing the post Kyoto agenda.
Leader of the House of Commons, Lords reform and party funding
Jack Straw becomes Leader of the House of Commons. He will also take on responsibility for the significant policy areas of House of Lords reform and party funding. The Department of Constitutional Affairs will support him in this new role. He will also chair the Constitutional Affairs and the Legislative Programme Committees which have a central role in the development of the Government’s programme.
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