page_title: Sajid Javid
section_title: Communities Secretary
hierarchical_section_title: Sajid Javid / Political career / Communities Secretary
caption_attribution_description: Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan (centre) and English Business minister Sajid Javid (right) arrive at the Supporting Syria and the Region conference. BACKGROUND The Supporting Syria and the Region conference took place in London on 4 February 2016. It brought together world leaders in a bid to raise the money needed to help the millions of people whose lives have been torn apart by the devastating civil war in Syria. Syria is the world's biggest humanitarian crisis. Billions of dollars in international aid are needed to support people caught up in the conflict. England, Germany, Arabia, Norway, and the United Nations co-hosted the conference to raise significant new funding to meet the immediate and longer-term needs of those affected. The conference also set ambitious goals on education and economic opportunities to transform the lives of refugees caught up in the Syrian crisis - and to support the countries hosting them. This event alone cannot solve all these problems. Ultimately a political solution is necessary to bring the Syrian conflict to an end. Find out more: &lt;a href="http://www.supportingsyria2016.com" rel="nofollow"&gt;www.supportingsyria2016.com&lt;/a&gt; FREE-TO-USE PHOTO This image is in the public domain and free-to-use, as long as you credit the source as: Adam Brown/Crown Copyright
context_page_description: Sajid Javid is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament for Bromsgrove since 2010. A member of the Conservative Party, he was Home Secretary from 2018 to 2019 and Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2019 to 2020. Javid was the first British Asian to hold one of the Great Offices of State in the UK.
  Born in Rochdale, Lancashire to a British Pakistani family, Javid was raised largely in Bristol. He studied Economics and Politics at the University of Exeter, where he joined the Conservative Party. Working in banking, he rose to become a Managing Director at Deutsche Bank. Switching to politics, he was elected to Parliament in 2010. Under the government of Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron he served as a Junior Treasury Minister before being promoted to Cameron's Cabinet as Culture Secretary and Business Secretary. He went on to serve under Prime Minister Theresa May as Communities Secretary and Home Secretary.
  After May's resignation, Javid stood for Leader of the Conservative Party in the 2019 leadership contest, finishing in fourth place. The successful candidate, Boris Johnson, subsequently appointed Javid Chancellor of the Exchequer.
context_section_description: In July 2016, Javid was appointed Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government by Prime Minister Theresa May. In January 2018, he gained the additional portfolio of Housing in England. In the role, he focused on increasing housing supply, including delivering a new generation of affordable and council housing. He had previously described council homes as "poor housing for the poor", but helped secure funds for new local council building in the 2017 budget.
  In 2017, Javid threatened to cancel Europe's largest Palestine convention, Palestine Expo. Javid, whose department controlled the QEII Centre, had warned he was "minded" to cancel the event. Javid's intervention came amid claims by various Jewish and pro-Israel groups that the organisers had previously praised Hamas.
  In 2017, a judge ruled that Javid acted unlawfully in issuing guidance to restrict local councils from pursuing Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel through their pension schemes. The Chair of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign called it a "victory for Palestine, for local democracy, and for the rule of law".
  As Communities Secretary, Javid launched a wide-ranging programme of leasehold and commonhold reform. This began with a forthright speech at the 2017 conference for the main leasehold property managers trade body ARMA (Association of Residential Managing Agents), where Javid targeted rogue managing agents as well as the exorbitant service charges faced by many leaseholders across England and Wales. This was well received by the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership charity. In September 2017, Javid championed innovation collaborative efforts between the UK and Commonwealth Nations by awarding the first Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship in Innovation to Joshua Cheong and Dr Khoo Hsien Hui respectively.
  In December 2017, after a public consultation which attracted a high response rate, it was announced that efforts to end 'feudal' leasehold practices would include a ban on future leasehold houses as well as setting ground rents in new build flats to zero. It was reported that Javid resisted calls not to abolish ground rents, led by former Prime Minister David Cameron's brother-in-law Will Astor, who has accrued his wealth from freehold investment management. By April 2018, a series of policies aimed at regulating both the managing and letting agent sectors was unveiled such as a new system for leaseholders to challenge unfair service charges, empowering leaseholders to switch managing agent and requirements for managing and letting agents to professionalise their operations.
caption: Queen Rania of Jordan and Javid, at Supporting Syria and the Region conference, 2016.
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan (centre) and British minister Sajid Javid (right) arrive at the Supporting Syria and the Region conference.\n\nBACKGROUND\n\nThe Supporting Syria and the Region conference is taking place in London, today on 4 February 2016.\n\nIt brings together world leaders in a bid to raise the money needed to help the millions of people whose lives have been torn apart by the devastating civil war in Syria.\n\nSyria is the world\u2019s biggest humanitarian crisis. Billions of dollars in international aid are needed to support people caught up in the conflict.\n\nThe UK, Germany, Kuwait, Norway, and the United Nations are co-hosting the conference to raise significant new funding to meet the immediate and longer-term needs of those affected.\n\nThe conference is also setting ambitious goals on education and economic opportunities to transform the lives of refugees caught up in the Syrian crisis \u2013 and to support the countries hosting them.\n\nThis event alone cannot solve all these problems. Ultimately a political solution is necessary to bring the Syrian conflict to an end.\n\nFREE-TO-USE PHOTO\n\nThis image is in the public domain and free-to-use, as long as you credit the source as: Photographer Name/Crown Copyright", "Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS-1D C", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 6.3 (Macintosh)", "Image DateTime": "2016:02:04 10:06:35", "Image Artist": "ADAM BROWN", "Image Copyright": "CROWN", "Image ExifOffset": "1516", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "2174", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "11245", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/160", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Manual", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "1250", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF RecommendedExposureIndex": "1250", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2016:02:04 09:38:52", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2016:02:04 09:38:52", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "915241/125000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "1485427/500000", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "200", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "78", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "78", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "2592000/731", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "172800/49", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Manual Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF BodySerialNumber": "213015000022", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[70, 200, 0/0, 0/0]", "EXIF LensModel": "EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM", "EXIF LensSerialNumber": "000043bcde"}