A second headquarters for the housing department is to be set up in the Midlands, amid wider plans by the Government for more representation outside of London.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) will become the first department to have ministers regularly working outside of Whitehall at the new site in Wolverhampton.

The move supports Boris Johnson’s so-called “levelling-up” agenda, in which the Prime Minister has vowed to do more to create opportunities outside the capital.

It follows his landslide election victory in 2019 which saw traditionally Labour-voting areas across parts of the north of England, the Midlands and northern Wales vote Tory for the first time.

Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick has announced that at least 500 roles are set to be based across the West Midlands by 2025, while senior civil servants will also work from the Wolverhampton headquarters.

The department said it expects to announce the building for the headquarters in the spring and that recruitment is already under way, with 40 roles relocated to the region in the last 12 months.

Mr Jenrick said: “With a dual headquarters in Wolverhampton my department will not only change where we work but how we work, signalling the end of the Whitehall knows best approach.

“All of us at the department are looking forward to having the opportunity to work there.

“In choosing the city of Wolverhampton we are also backing our great smaller cities, some of which have been neglected for too long.

“We want to raise their stature, encourage civic pride and commercial success.”