Former business minister Mark Prisk is set to take on responsibility for the Portas Review after being handed the new housing minister brief as part of the Prime Minister’s ministerial reshuffle.
Prisk takes over from Grant Shapps and is expected to take on his responsibilities for town centres and the implementation of Mary Portas’ High Street Review, although it is yet to be confirmed.
Prisk, Conservative MP for Hertford and Stortford, was previously minister for Business and Enterprise in the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills and had responsibility for retail.
He will now move over to the Department for Communities and Local Government.
He told The Cloud Retail Week Conference in March that he was developing a “clear, business-led” strategy for retail which included cutting red tape.
Shapps, who has been at the forefront of the government’s response to self-styled queen of shops Mary Portas’ review, has been promoted to the cabinet as Tory party co-chair.
Prisk worked in the property industry and ran his own consultancy business prior to becoming an MP. He also spent two years as a surveyor at property agent Knight Frank.
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