Michael Gove has once again been appointed secretary for levelling-up, housing, and communities, this time under Rishi Sunak’s new government. He had previously held the role between September 2021 and July 2022, under Boris Johnson’s leadership.
His predecessor was Simon Clarke, who was only in the role for 49 days, under former prime minister Liz Truss, from September to October 2022. Prior to that, Greg Clark was in the role, also for a brief amount of time, from July to September.
But what does the levelling-up secretary do? Here is everything you need to know about the role.
What does the levelling-up secretary do?
The secretary of state for levelling-up, housing, and communities, otherwise known as the levelling-up secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government. They are responsible for the overall leadership and strategic direction of the department of the same name.
On the department’s official government page, the responsibilities of the role are described as the following: “Our work includes investing in local areas to drive growth and create jobs, delivering the homes our country needs, supporting our community and faith groups, and overseeing local government, planning, and building safety.”
What is levelling up?
The term was a key slogan of Boris Johnson’s 2019 election campaign, but the definition has always been thought of as vague, with ministers struggling to define what it actually is.
The ambition is to address the vast imbalances, primarily economic, between areas and social groups across the UK.
What was laid out by Gove in the official white paper in February?
There are a dozen national “missions” to be met by 2030, setting out to give real-world substance to the slogan.
- Increase pay, employment, and productivity
- Domestic public investment in research and development outside the south-east to rise by at least 40 per cent.
- London-style public transport connectivity across the UK
- Nationwide broadband
- Fixing the education gap
- Skills training
- Narrowing life-expectancy gap, with a UK-wide rise of five years by 2035
- Rise in wellbeing
- Decreased inequalities
- Rise in overall number of first-time homebuyers
- Crime reduction
- Devolution in England
Pay, employment, and productivity must rise in “every area” in the UK, while local public transport across the country must become “significantly closer” to London’s standards.
Other targets include 90 per cent of primary-school children in England achieving the expected standards in reading, writing, and maths, while reducing rates of homicide, serious violence, and neighbourhood crime.
Gove set out plans for 20 new urban-regeneration projects across the Midlands and northern England, with £1.8 billion in new housing projects.
He also said that the gap in healthy life expectancy between the best- and worst-performing areas must narrow, with health expectancy rising by five years by 2035, instead of falling.
