Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott was in charge of regional policy until earlier this year. I presume the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Ruth Kelly (an Opus Dei member) took over the responsibility.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4100061.stm

The regional remit is described as follows.

DCLG is responsible for regional policy within England, and aims to promote sustainable development in the English regions.

The Government is dedicated to increasing the prosperity of all the regions and to bridging regional disparities.  As part of this, DCLG is keen that action should be taken at the right level whether that is regional, cross-regional, sub-regional or locally.

There is great diversity within and between the regions of England and they face different challenges.  Therefore, the solutions - be they economic, social or environmental - will need to be tailored to the needs of the region. Read more about Regions....

http://www.odpm.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1139476

The stuff about elected Regional Assemblies is a long way inside the Departmental web site. I do not think it is a high priority.