Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government

United Kingdom Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government
Royal Arms of His Majesty's Government
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 State for Communities and Local Government)
Deputy	Minister of State for Housing and Planning
Salary	£159,038 per annum (2022) [1] (including £86,584 MP salary) [2]
Website	Official Website

The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government is a senior minister in the 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 of 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. ^[3]

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.^{[ citation needed ]}

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". ^[4] 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 monicker. ^[5]

Responsibilities

The secretary of state's responsibilities include:

• Housing and planning
• Local government and English devolution
• Regional and local growth
• Communities and faith
• Democracy and elections

List of secretaries of state and ministers

Minister of State			Term of office		Party	Ministry
		David Miliband [6] MP for South Shields	5 May 2005	5 May 2006	Labour	Blair III
Secretary of State			Term of office		Party	Ministry
		Ruth Kelly [7] MP for Bolton West	6 May 2006	28 June 2007	Labour	Blair III
		Hazel Blears [8] MP for Salford	28 June 2007	5 June 2009	Labour	Brown
		John Denham [9] MP for Southampton Itchen	5 June 2009	11 May 2010	Labour
		Eric Pickles [10] MP for Brentwood and Ongar	12 May 2010	11 May 2015	Conservative	Cameron–Clegg ( Con.–L.D. )
		Greg Clark [11] MP for Tunbridge Wells	11 May 2015	14 July 2016	Conservative	Cameron II
		Sajid Javid [12] MP for Bromsgrove	14 July 2016	8 January 2018	Conservative	May I
						May II
Secretary of State			Term of office		Party	Ministry
		Sajid Javid [12] MP for Bromsgrove	8 January 2018	30 April 2018	Conservative	May II
		James Brokenshire [13] MP for Old Bexley and Sidcup	30 April 2018	24 July 2019	Conservative
		Robert Jenrick [14] MP for Newark	24 July 2019	15 September 2021	Conservative	Johnson I
						Johnson II
Secretary of State			Term of office		Party	Ministry
		Michael Gove [4] MP for Surrey Heath	15 September [a] 2021	6 July 2022	Conservative	Johnson II
		Greg Clark [15] MP for Tunbridge Wells	7 July 2022	6 September 2022	Conservative
		Simon Clarke [16] MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland	6 September 2022	25 October 2022	Conservative	Truss
		Michael Gove MP for Surrey Heath	25 October 2022	5 July 2024	Conservative	Sunak
Secretary of State			Term of office		Party	Ministry
		Angela Rayner MP for Ashton under Lyne	5 July [b] 2024	5 September 2025	Labour	Starmer
		Steve Reed MP for Streatham and Croydon North	5 September 2025	Incumbent

Timeline of secretaries of state

References

1. "Salaries of Members of His Majesty's Government – Financial Year 2022–23" (PDF). 15 December 2022.
2. "Pay and expenses for MPs". parliament.uk. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
3. Knight, Sam (5 May 2006). "Prescott loses his dream home: the mega department". The Times . Retrieved 17 May 2021.
4. Cordon, Gavin (18 September 2021). "Michael Gove heads rebranded 'Department for Levelling Up'". www.standard.co.uk. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
5. "Department ditches 'levelling up' moniker | LocalGov". 8 July 2024.
6. "Rt Hon David Miliband". UK Parliament. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
7. "Ruth Kelly". UK Parliament. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
8. "Rt Hon Hazel Blears". UK Parliament. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
9. "Rt Hon John Denham". UK Parliament. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
10. "Rt Hon Sir Eric Pickles". UK Parliament. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
11. "Rt Hon Greg Clark MP". UK Parliament. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
12. "Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP". UK Parliament. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
13. "Sajid Javid announced as new Home Secretary after Amber Rudd's resignation". Sky News. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
14. "Robert Jenrick replaces James Brokenshire as housing secretary". Inside Housing. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
15. "The Rt Hon Greg Clark MP @GregClarkMP has been appointed Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities". Twitter.com. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
16. "The Rt Hon Simon Clarke MP @SimonClarkeMP has been appointed Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities @luhc". Twitter. Retrieved 7 September 2022.

Notes

1. Still known officially as Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government until 19 September 2021
2. Known as Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities until official change on 9 July 2024