Department for Communities and Local Government

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Communities and Local Government, the rebranded Department for Communities and Local Government, is a United Kingdom government department. It was formed in July 2001 as part of the Cabinet Office with the title Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM), headed by the Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, 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. On 5 May 2006, it was renamed and Ruth Kelly was made the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. The Deputy Prime Minister is now a "Minister without portfolio" and his office has purely secretarial functions.

It is responsible for largely the same issues listed on the ODPM website (from June 2005). They are:

Planning
Regions
Social Exclusion
Sustainable Communities
Urban Policy

On its creation it also assumed the community policy function of the Home Office and has since established the Commission on Integration and Cohesion and the Commission for Equalities and Human Rights.

In January 2007, Ruth Kelly announced proposals to bring together the delivery functions of the Housing Corporation, English Partnerships and parts of Communities and Local Government to form a new unified housing and regeneration agency, Communities England, which is likely to become operational during 2008 or 2009.

The department has many offices including 26 Whitehall, Eland House and Ashdown House in London. It is in charge of the Government Offices in the nine regions of England.