New Department for Communities and Local Government in the UK 09-05-2006 In the United Kingdom, a Department for Communities and Local Government
(DCLG) has been created. DCLG will be the successor department to the Office of
the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM). It is 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. Ruth Kelly was
appointed Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on 5 May 2006.
DCLG 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 the Department of Trade & Industry (DTI). DCLG will also be the
sponsor department for the new Commission for Equality and Human Rights.
The job of the Department for Communities and Local Government is to help
create sustainable communities, working with other government departments, local
councils, businesses, the voluntary sector, and communities themselves.
Sustainable communities are about things that matter to people: decent homes at
prices people can afford, good public transport, schools, hospitals, and shops;
people able to have a say on the way their neighbourhood is run; and a clean,
safe environment.
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