Simon Hoare has been appointed as local government minister at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), replacing Lee Rowley, who has been made housing minister.
The new appointments are part of prime minster Rishi Sunak’s cabinet reshuffle, which took place on 13 November.
Rowley was appointed as the new minister for housing after the sacking of Rachel Maclean yesterday.
Prior to his appointment at DLUHC, Hoare – MP for North Dorset – was the chairman of the Northern Ireland Affairs committee since he was elected in June 2019. Before this, he has been a councillor for several councils, including West Oxfordshire District Council and Oxfordshire County Council.
On X (formerly known as Twitter), Hoare wrote that he was “delighted and honoured” to be joining the DLUHC. He added that he was “fortunate” to serve as a councillor for 13 years, “so it’s nice to be home”.
Meanwhile, Rowley is returning to the post of housing minister, which he previously held between September 2022 and October 2022.
Most recently, in his role as local government minister, Rowley has been vocal with his criticism towards South Cambridgeshire District Council’s trial of a four-day working week, with the authority being issued a Best Value Notice earlier this month.
At Room151’s Local Authority Treasurers’ Investment Forum and Finance Directors’ Summit in September, he also stressed that “local government needs to be squeaky clean about the use of taxpayers’ resources” when it comes to setting their budgets.
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