Jenrick Exits As Housing Secretary In Cabinet Reshuffle

Robert Jenrick has lost his job as housing secretary in a major cabinet reshuffle and been replaced by Michael Gove. The former housing secretary announced his departure in a tweet which made no reference to a new ministerial post - suggesting he has been removed from the cabinet. The reshuffle brings to a close a two-year run in the position for Mr Jenrick. It makes him the longest serving secretary of state in this role since Eric Pickles, who left office in 2015. Former education and justice secretary Mr Gove was announced as his replacement, moving from his current role as chancellor for the Duchy of Lancaster. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/jenrick-exits-as-housing-secretary-in-cabinet-reshuffle-72531 

Reshuffle ‘Evicts’ McVey From MHCLG

Esther McVey has been served a ‘Section 21’ by Downing Street – her short term tenure as housing minister is over. But Robert Jenrick is staying on as Housing Secretary offering the sector some much-needed continuity. McVey confirmed her sacking on her twitter account having been one of the first ministers ‘reshuffled’ by the PM. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/reshuffle-evicts-mcvey-from-mhclg/

Cabinet Reshuffle: What Does It Mean For Housing?

Sajid Javid has kept his job and is now Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (HCLG). Housing already fell under the department’s remit, but reshuffle rumours predicted the position of housing minister would be promoted to a full cabinet post. CLG has seen its social care remit shifted to the Department of Health. David Gauke has been moved from the DWP to the Ministry of Justice with Esther McVey becoming Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. Dominic Raab is the new housing minister, moving over from the Ministry of Justice where he had been a junior minister since 2015. Alok Sharma will now take up a minister for employment role in the DWP. Read more on the RLA website.

Lewis to Continue As Housing Minister after 24 Hours of Confusion

Brandon Lewis is to continue as minister for housing and planning, the CLG have confirmed. The announcement follows 24 hours of confusion after a series of updates on the CLG website showed newly-appointed minister Mark Francois had been given the housing and planning brief. Francois was moved to CLG from the Ministry of Defence in David Cameron's reshuffle and his details appeared on the department's website soon afterwards. At the same time, the Brandon Lewis profile disappeared. The CLG said today the announcement on the website had been made "in error". Read more on 24dash.

Hopkins 'Grateful To Prime Minister' After Losing Housing Job

Kris Hopkins says he is "honoured that the prime minister has shown continued faith in him" after being removed as housing minister less than a year into the role. Hopkins was moved sideways within CLG from housing to local government in David Cameron's reshuffle to make way for newly promoted Brandon Lewis, in what appears to be a more senior housing brief that also includes planning. In his role as Minister for Local Government, the former Bradford Council leader will also have responsibility for adult social care, community pubs, and planning policy relating to wind farms and solar energy. Read more on 24dash.

Quit If You're Unhappy, Tories Tell Clegg as He Ditches 'Bedroom Tax'

After marching in step with George Osborne’s austerity programme for four years, Nick Clegg announced he now opposes the so-called bedroom tax. The policy will be radically watered down in the next Liberal Democrat manifesto, meaning claimants only have their housing benefit docked if they refuse to move to a smaller house. Senior Conservatives were angered and amused by the move, and said Mr Clegg is showing "remarkable contempt" for the principle of collective responsibility that means Cabinet ministers must defend government policies in public. In further attacks on his Coalition partners, Mr Clegg said the “headbangers have won” in Mr Cameron’s reshuffle after a number of eurosceptics were promoted. Read more on the Daily Telegraph website.

Lies, Damn Lies and Failing DWP Bedroom Tax Reports

On the same day as the cabinet reshuffle the DWP released a 163-page interim report into the bedroom tax.  Unfortunately this deliberate burial of a report is the best that can be said for it as it really is that bad. It only records the first 5 months of the bedroom tax from April 2013 to August 2013 and so this report is already ELEVEN MONTHS OUT OF DATE. Let’s begin with the Executive Summary which starts on page 13.

This Interim Report presents early findings from the evaluation of the Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy (RSRS). A final report will be published in 2015.

We have already been told by Steve Webb, then a minister at DWP, that the final report will be published in Summer 2015, that is AFTER the next general election.  Hence this sham of a report is to be the ONLY coalition report on the bedroom tax in this parliament which you would not know from reading this cleverly worded sentence. Read more on the Speye blog.

A Housing Policy in Disarray

To a large extent, the few housing policy announcements made at recent Labour and Tory conferences have been eclipsed by changes in the housing brief announced by both main parties in Monday’s ministerial and shadow ministerial reshuffles. All the same, Kris Hopkins, MP for Keighley, has been appointed housing minister, taking over from Mark Prisk, who was axed after just over a year in the role. Hopkins joins the CLG as an undersecretary of state, suggesting the role of housing minister has been demoted in the government’s ministerial hierarchy and reinforcing the impression that chancellor George Osborne is running housing policy from the Treasury.  Wolverhampton MP Emma Reynolds has replaced Jack Dromey as Labour’s shadow housing minister. Worryingly for the housing and construction sectors, these changes may signal downgrading of housing policy at a time when housing is growing in importance in the public’s mind. Read more on the Left Foot Forward blog.