Home Affairs Select Committee
The Home Affairs Select Committee is a Committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
Remit
The Home Affairs Committee is one of the House of Commons Select Committees related to government departments: its terms of reference are to examine "the expenditure, administration and policy of the Home Office and its associated public bodies".
The Committee chooses its own subjects of inquiry, within the overall terms of reference. It invites written evidence from interested parties and holds public evidence sessions, usually in committee rooms at the House of Commons, although it does have the power to meet away from Westminster.
At the end of each inquiry, the Committee will normally agree a Report based on the evidence received. Such Reports are published and made available on the internet. Reports usually contain recommendations to the Government and other bodies. The Government by convention responds to reports within about two months of publication. These responses are also published.
Inquiries
Current inquiries are focusing on
- Reform of the Police Funding Formula
- Countering extremism
- The work of the Immigration Directorates (Q2 2015)
- Police investigations and the role of the CPS
- The work of the Home Office
- Migration crisis
- Immigration: skill shortages
- The work of the Home Secretary
- Psychoactive substances
Recent inquiries have focused on:
- Asylum
- European Union Justice and Home Affairs opt-out
- e-Crime
- Leadership and standards in the police
- Child sexual exploitation and the response to localised grooming
- Drugs
Membership
Yvette Cooper took the position of Leader of the Home Affairs Select Committee on 19 October 2016.
The remaining members of the Committee were formally appointed on 8 July 2015.
Changes
Occasionally, the House of Commons orders changes to be made in terms of membership of select committees, as proposed by the Committee of Selection Such changes are shown below.