Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (UK)
From Free net encyclopedia
Template:Mergeto The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is a department of the British government. It was formed in May 2002 and is led by the Deputy Prime Minister, currently John Prescott. . It is a successor to the Department for the Environment, Transport and the Regions.
It responsible for the following issues, according to their website (as of June 2005)
- Building Regulations
- Civil Resilience
- Fire
- Homelessness
- Housing
- Local Government
- Neighbourhood Renewal
- Planning
- Regions
- Social Exclusion
- Sustainable Communities
- Urban Policy
The department has many offices including 26 Whitehall, Eland House and Ashdown House in London.
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Ministers
The Department is headed by John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister. Since the re-shuffle after the 2005 general election, another minister from the Department, the Minister of Communities and Local Government, David Miliband, is a Cabinet position.
Junior ministers in the department are
- Phil Woolas - Minister for Local Government
- Yvette Cooper - Minister for Housing and Planning
- Jim Fitzpatrick, Baroness Andrews - Parliamentary Under-Secretaries of State
Permanent Secretary
The Permanent Secretary is Peter Housden.
Controversy
ODPM has been criticised in some quarters for adding little value, in effect being a way of keeping John Prescott in the public eye whilst giving him few, if any, real responsibilities. The Audit Commission has reported negatively on the department in the past.