Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government

United Kingdom Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government
File:Coat of arms of the United Kingdom (2022, lesser arms).svg Royal Arms of His Majesty's Government
File:Steve Reed Official Cabinet Portrait, July 2024 (crop 3).jpg Incumbent Steve Reed since 5 September 2025
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Style	The Right Honourable (within the UK and Commonwealth)
Type	Minister of the Crown
Status	Secretary of State
Member of	Cabinet Privy Council
Reports to	The Prime Minister
Seat	Westminster
Nominator	The Prime Minister
Appointer	The Monarch (on the advice of the Prime Minister)
Term length	At His Majesty's Pleasure
Formation	5 May 2005: (as Minister of State for Communities and Local Government) 18 September 2021: (as Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities) 8 July 2024: (as Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government)
First holder	David Miliband (as Minister of Communities and Local Government)
Deputy	Minister of State for Housing and Planning
Salary	£159,038 per annum (2022) (including £86,584 MP salary)
Website	www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-housing-communities-local-government

The secretary of state for housing, communities and local government is a senior minister in the Government of the United Kingdom and the head of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). As a Cabinet-level position, the office holder is responsible for housing, planning, and local government policy in England.

The corresponding shadow minister is the shadow secretary of state for housing, communities and local government.

History

The Department for Communities and Local Government was created in 2006 by then British prime minister Tony Blair to replace John Prescott's Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, which had taken on the local government and regions portfolios from the defunct Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions in 2002.

The secretary of state took over the responsibilities of the minister of state for communities and local government. This post, within the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, was created in 2005, on the transfer of several functions from the deputy prime minister himself.

Then prime minister Boris Johnson renamed the position Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and gave the secretary and the department responsibility for carrying out the promise in the 2019 Conservative Party manifesto of "levelling up". Labour prime minister Keir Starmer renamed the department as the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on 8 July 2024, retiring the levelling up moniker.

Responsibilities

According to the UK government, the secretary of state has overall strategic oversight of the department’s business and policy in areas including:

• housing and planning
• local government and English devolution
• regional and local growth
• communities and faith
• democracy and elections
• public appointments
• planning casework
• corporate functions

List of secretaries of state and ministers

Minister of Communities and Local Government
Minister			Term of office		Party	Ministry
	File:David Miliband 2.jpg	David Miliband MP for South Shields	5 May 2005	5 May 2006	Labour	Blair III
Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government
Secretary of State			Term of office		Party	Ministry
	File:Ruth Kelly official portrait.jpg	Ruth Kelly MP for Bolton West	6 May 2006	28 June 2007	Labour	Blair III
	File:Official photograph of Hazel Blears MP (cropped).jpg	Hazel Blears MP for Salford	28 June 2007	5 June 2009	Labour	Brown
	File:John Denham.jpg	John Denham MP for Southampton Itchen	5 June 2009	11 May 2010	Labour
	File:Eric Pickles Official.jpg	Eric Pickles MP for Brentwood and Ongar	12 May 2010	11 May 2015	Conservative	Cameron–Clegg (Con.–L.D.)
	File:Official portrait of Greg Clark crop 2.jpg	Greg Clark MP for Tunbridge Wells	11 May 2015	14 July 2016	Conservative	Cameron II
	File:Official portrait of Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP crop 2.jpg	Sajid Javid MP for Bromsgrove	14 July 2016	8 January 2018	Conservative	May I
						May II
Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government
Secretary of State			Term of office		Party	Ministry
	File:Official portrait of Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP crop 2.jpg	Sajid Javid MP for Bromsgrove	8 January 2018	30 April 2018	Conservative	May II
	File:Official portrait of Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP crop 2.jpg	James Brokenshire MP for Old Bexley and Sidcup	30 April 2018	24 July 2019	Conservative
	File:Robert Jenrick Official Portrait February 2020.jpg	Robert Jenrick MP for Newark	24 July 2019	15 September 2021	Conservative	Johnson I
						Johnson II
Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
Secretary of State			Term of office		Party	Ministry
	File:Michael Gove Official Cabinet Portrait, September 2021 (cropped).jpg	Michael Gove MP for Surrey Heath	15 September 2021	6 July 2022	Conservative	Johnson II
	File:Greg Clark Official Portrait July 2022 (cropped).jpg	Greg Clark MP for Tunbridge Wells	7 July 2022	6 September 2022	Conservative
	File:Simon Clark Official Portrait September 2022 (cropped).jpg	Simon Clarke MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland	6 September 2022	25 October 2022	Conservative	Truss
	File:Michael Gove Official Cabinet Portrait, October 2022 (cropped).jpg	Michael Gove MP for Surrey Heath	25 October 2022	5 July 2024	Conservative	Sunak
Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government
Secretary of State			Term of office		Party	Ministry
	File:Angela Rayner Official Cabinet Portrait, July 2024 (cropped) 2.jpg	Angela Rayner MP for Ashton under Lyne	5 July 2024	5 September 2025	Labour	Starmer
	File:Steve Reed Official Cabinet Portrait, July 2024 (crop 3).jpg	Steve Reed MP for Streatham and Croydon North	5 September 2025	Incumbent

Timeline of secretaries of state

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 from:05/06/2009 till:11/05/2010 color:lab text:"John Denham"
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 from:08/01/2018 till:30/04/2018 color:con text:"Sajid Javid"
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