Danny Kruger MP, who led the government-commissioned review of civil society last year, has joined the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.
Kruger announced this morning that he will be joining the department as parliamentary private secretary, as part of an ongoing government reshuffle.
His civil society review, published in September 2020, included a recommendation that ministers create a £500m Community Recovery Fund to support charities in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Working with Michael Gove
Kruger said that he was “delighted” at the role, which he described as a “v junior non-ministerial post”.
Delighted to be joining @michaelgove and the team at @luhcgovuk (levelling up, housing, communities) as Parliamentary Private Secretary (v junior non ministerial post)
— Danny Kruger (@danny__kruger) September 21, 2021
The department, where Michael Gove will be secretary of state, has been renamed from the Ministry of Communities, Housing and Local Government.
The civil society review called on the government to create a £500m fund to back charities as they recovered from the economic shock of the pandemic, using money from the dormant National Fund.
It also said that the government should create a volunteer passport system, to make it easier for people to help out at different charities, and should review the role of the National Lottery Community Fund.
Cross-party call
Speaking about his review this March, Kruger told an event that he was “heartened that government is taking them all [the recommendations] seriously”.
However, he added: “I wish that this rhetoric, this narrative that we are articulating here, was coming out of the prime minister’s mouth. But he has got a big set of priorities and concerns and I think there is everything to play for.
“The more we can all push, cross-party and in my party, on this, the better.”
Still no new charities minister
Kruger’s move comes towards the end of a government reshuffle, which has seen Baroness Barran, the charities minister, move to the Department for Education.
Nadine Dorries has been appointed as the secretary of state at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), where she will have overall responsibility for charities and allocating responsibilities to junior ministers.
Andy Haldane, the chief executive at the RSA and former chief economist at the Bank of England, has been seconded to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to lead a new task force.
No new charities minister has yet been named, although Civil Society News understands that ministerial appointments are ongoing at DCMS and other government departments.
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