Regions of England

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Regions of England
Category	Statistical regions Administrative region (1)
Location	England
Created	1994
Number	9 regions North East North West Yorkshire and the Humber East Midlands West Midlands East of England London South East South West
Additional status	ITL 1 region European constituency (1999–2020)
Populations	2,669,941–9,180,135
Areas	1,572–23,836 km2
Government	Local authority leaders' board (5) Elected assembly (1) None (3)
Subdivisions	Two-tier non-metropolitan county (21) Metropolitan county (6) Unitary authority area (62) London borough (32 Greater London, 1, City Of London)

This article is part of a series within the Politics of the United Kingdom on the
Politics of England
The Crown Monarch: Charles III Heir Apparent: William, Prince of Wales Republicanism in the United Kingdom
Governance King-in-Council: Charles III Prime Minister: Keir Starmer (L) Deputy Prime Minister: Angela Rayner (L)
Legislative King-in-Parliament: Charles III House of Lords Lord Speaker: The Lord McFall of Alcluith Reform of the House of Lords House of Commons Speaker: Sir Lindsay Hoyle MPs for England Constituencies Regional Affairs Committee
Elections UK General Elections in England 1801 co-option 1802 1806 1807 1812 1818 1820 1826 1830 1831 1832 1835 1837 1841 1847 1852 1857 1859 1865 1868 1874 1880 1885 1886 1892 1895 1900 1906 1910 (Jan) 1910 (Dec) 1918 1922 1923 1924 1929 1931 1935 1945 1950 1951 1955 1959 1964 1966 1970 1974 (Feb) 1974 (Oct) 1979 1983 1987 1992 1997 2001 2005 2010 2015 2017 2019 2024
Judiciary King-on-the-Bench: Charles III Supreme Court President: The Lord Reed of Allermuir High Court of Justice Courts English Law
Regions East of England London East Midlands West Midlands North East North West South East South West Yorkshire and the Humber
Administration History Subdivisions Historic Counties Ceremonial Counties Metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties Metropolitan county Non-metropolitan county Greater London Unitary authorities (list) Districts (list) Metropolitan Borough Non-metropolitan District London Borough Combined authorities Mayoral Council for England Civil parishes (list)
Category  England portal Other countries
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The regions of England, formerly known as the government office regions, are the highest tier of sub-national division in England. They were established in 1994^[1] and follow the 1974–96 county borders. They are a continuation of the former 1940s standard regions which followed the 1889–1974 administrative county borders. Between 1994 and 2011, all nine regions had partly devolved functions; they no longer fulfil this role, continuing to be used for limited statistical purposes.^[2]

While the UK was a member of the European Union, they defined areas (constituencies) for the purposes of elections to the European Parliament. Eurostat also used them to demarcate first level Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) regions ("NUTS 1 regions") within the European Union, which in 2021 were superseded by International Territorial Level (ITL) regions ("ITL 1 regions").

The London Region has a directly elected Mayor and Assembly. Six regions have local authority leaders' boards to assist with correlating the headline policies of local authorities. The remaining two regions no longer have any administrative functions, having abolished their regional local authority leaders' boards.

In 1998, regional chambers were established in the eight regions outside London, which produced strategic plans and recommendations to local authorities. Each of the regions also had an associated (central) Government Office with some responsibility for coordinating policy, and, from 2007, a part-time regional minister within the Government. House of Commons regional Select Committees were established in 2009. However, the chambers and select committees were abolished in May 2010, restoring these functions to the main tier of local government,^[3] with limited functions transferred to the regional local authority leaders' boards created in 2009. Regional ministers were not reappointed by the incoming Coalition Government, and the Government Offices were abolished in 2011.

From 2011, combined authorities have been introduced in some city regions, with similar responsibilities to the former regional chambers (and in some cases, replacing a regional local authority leaders' board on a smaller scale), but which also receive additional delegated functions from central government relating to transport and economic policy.

Regional development agencies were public bodies established in all nine regions in 1998 to promote economic development. They had certain delegated functions, including administering European Union regional development funds, and received funding from the central government as well. These were abolished in 2012, with statutory functions returning to local authorities and central government; however, smaller scale local enterprise partnerships were voluntarily established to take on some functions relating to coordinating economic priorities and development.