In a move aimed at creating a strategy to help stem the rate of pub closures in Britain, the government has appointed Wentworth MP John Healey as the first Minister for Pubs.

Healey - who is also housing minister at the Department for Communities and Local Government - is to head up a cross-department task force of ministers tasked with drawing up a package of measures to help the sector. He is reported to be considering business tax breaks, relaxing planning laws and giving tenants the right to buy pubs from pub companies.

Healey said: "Pubs are often at the heart of community life. And they are important meeting places for many people. While we can't stop every pub from closing it's right we do everything possible to back them. The appointment comes after figures from the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) revealed that the rate of pubs closing across the UK had slowed from 52 a week to 39 a week during the second half of 2009.

Mark Hastings, BBPA's director of communications, said: "This is a clear sign of the strong public desire to see British pubs supported and the success of our campaign over the last year. "We hope this means that pubs will now have a strategic place in Government policy making, and we are pleased that the agenda echoes so many of the priorities we have identified."