Regions of England

Regions Of England

In England, the region is the highest tier of sub-national division used by central Government. Between 1994 and 2011, nine regions had an official administrative role within UK Government. While they no longer fulfill this role, they continue to be used for administrative purposes. They define areas (constituencies) for the purposes of elections to the European Parliament. Eurostat also uses them to demarcate first level NUTS regions ("NUTS 1 regions") within the European Union. The regions generally followed the boundaries of "standard regions" established in the 1940s.

The London region is coterminous with the administrative area of Greater London, which has a directly elected Mayor and Assembly. The other eight regions have Local authority leaders' boards, which have limited powers and functions delegated by Central Government departments, with members appointed by local government bodies. These boards replaced indirectly elected Regional Assemblies, which were established in 1994 and undertook a range of co-ordinating, lobbying, scrutiny and strategic planning functions until their abolition.

Each region also had a Government Office with some responsibility for coordinating policy, and, from 2007 to 2010, each also had its own part-time regional minister within the Government. In 2009 the House of Commons established regional Select Committees for each of the regions outside of London. These committees ceased to exist upon the dissolution of Parliament on 12 April 2010 and were not re-established by the newly elected House. Regional ministers were not reappointed by the incoming Coalition Government, and the Government Offices were abolished in 2011.