The Government is set to resume talks with leaders of seven North East councils about creating a new regional authority and directly-elected mayor.
Local Government Minister Luke Hall and Kemi Badenoch, the Exchequer Secretary, began talks in March, but these were suspended due to local elections.
Mr Hall said they would now begin again.
He said: "Myself and the Exchequer Secretary wrote to local leaders in March to welcome discussions on a new devolution deal covering the seven local authorities."
He added: "Those conversations were paused as we moved towards the local elections ... with a view that we would pick up those conversations after the elections."
The seven local authorities are Newcastle, North Tyneside, Northumberland, Gateshead, South Tyneside, Sunderland and County Durham.
Currently, they are split between two combined authorities. The North of Tyne Combined Authority includes Newcastle, Northumberland and North Tyneside, and is chaired by a directly-elected mayor.
The others are part of the North East Combined Authority, which does not have a mayor.
They were previously part of the same combined authority, but split due to disagreements about whether to have an elected mayor or not.
The current arrangements have been criticised, including by Michael Heseltine, the senior politician who drew up plans for regional mayors, who described them as "a joke".
Mr Hall was speaking to the House of Commons Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, where Business Minister Paul Scully revealed that Prime Boris Johnson had taken personal responsibility for the Government's "levelling up" agenda.
A White Paper setting out levelling plans is to be published later this year.
While a department such as the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government would usually oversee a white paper, this one is being led by the Prime Minister's delivery unit, which is part of the Cabinet Office but was created to work directly with the Prime Minister.
Leicestershire MP Neil O’Brien, MP for Harborough, is working on the paper in his role as Mr Johnson’s “Levelling Up Adviser”.
He said: "The delivery unit as a whole is making sure that the Prime Minister's priorities are being delivered, and levelling up is right at the top of that."
The planned "levelling up" White Paper replaces earlier proposals, first announced back in 2019. Ministers said the White Paper would be published in 2020, and at one point a date of September 2020 was given.
It never appeared. Earlier this month, Downing Street announced a new Levelling Up White Paper would be published instead.
