Home Affairs Select Committee
The Home Affairs Select Committee is a departmental 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 on 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. By convention, the government responds to reports within about two months of publication. These responses are also published.
Inquiries
Recent inquiries have included:
- Brexit-related preparations
- Counter-terrorism
- Domestic abuse
- Hate crime and its violent consequences
- Immigration detention
- Islamophobia
- Modern slavery
- "Policing for the future"
- Windrush children
Membership
Diana Johnson was elected chair on 15 December 2021. The members are as follows:
Changes since 2019
2017–2019 Parliament
The chair was elected on 12 July 2017, with the members of the committee being announced on 11 September 2017.
Changes 2017–2019
| Date | Outgoing member | Constituency | → | New member | Constituency | Source | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 October 2017 | New seat | → | Rehman Chishti (Conservative) | Gillingham and Rainham | Hansard | |||
| 4 December 2017 | Esther McVey (Conservative) | Tatton | → | Douglas Ross (Conservative) | Moray | Hansard | ||
| 5 February 2018 | Preet Gill (Labour) | Birmingham Edgbaston | → | John Woodcock (Labour) | Barrow and Furness | Hansard | ||
| 20 February 2018 | Will Quince (Conservative) | Colchester | → | Kirstene Hair (Conservative) | Angus | Hansard | ||
| 18 June 2018 | Sarah Jones (Labour) | Croydon Central | → | Alex Norris (Labour and Co-op) | Nottingham North | Hansard | ||
| 23 July 2018 | Naz Shah (Labour) | Bradford West | → | Kate Green (Labour) | Stretford and Urmston | Hansard | ||
| 26 November 2018 | Kirstene Hair (Conservative) | Angus | → | Chris Green (Conservative) | Bolton West | Hansard | ||
| 8 May 2019 | Alex Norris (Labour and Co-op) | Nottingham North | → | Janet Daby (Labour) | Lewisham East | Hansard | ||
| John Woodcock (Independent) | Barrow and Furness | Toby Perkins (Labour) | Chesterfield | |||||
2015–2017 Parliament
The chair was elected on 18 June 2015, with members being announced on 8 July 2015.
Changes 2015–2017
| Date | Outgoing member | Constituency | → | New member | Constituency | Source | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 October 2015 | Anna Turley (Labour) | Redcar | → | Naz Shah Labour) | Bradford West | Hansard | ||
| Keir Starmer (Labour) | Holborn and St Pancras | Chuka Umunna (Labour) | Streatham | |||||
| 6 September 2016 | Keith Vaz (chair, Labour) | Leicester East | → | Vacant | Hansard | |||
| 19 October 2016 | Vacant | → | Yvette Cooper (chair, Labour) | Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford | Hansard | |||
| 31 October 2016 | Victoria Atkins (Conservative) | Louth and Horncastle | → | Byron Davies Conservative) | Gower | Hansard | ||
2010–2015 Parliament
The chair was elected on 10 June 2010, with members being announced on 12 July 2010.
Changes 2010–2015
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.
| Date | Outgoing member | → | New member | Source | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 December 2017 | Esther McVey (Con) | → | Douglas Ross (Con) | Hansard | ||
| 5 February 2018 | Preet Gill (Lab) | → | John Woodcock (Lab) | Hansard | ||
| 20 February 2018 | Will Quince (Con) | → | Kirstene Hair (Con) | Hansard | ||
| 8 May 2019 | Alex Norris (Lab Co-op) | → | Janet Daby (Lab) | Hansard | ||
| 8 May 2019 | John Woodcock (Ind) | → | Toby Perkins (Lab) | Hansard | ||
Chairs of the Home Affairs Select Committee
| Chair | Term of office | Party | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Wheeler | June 1987 | 16 March 1992 | Conservative | ||
| Ivan Lawrence | 15 July 1992 | 21 March 1997 | |||
| Chris Mullin | 17 July 1997 | 19 October 1999 | Labour | ||
| Robin Corbett | 19 October 1999 | 11 May 2001 | |||
| Chris Mullin | 18 July 2001 | 14 July 2003 | |||
| John Denham | 15 July 2003 | 25 July 2007 | |||
| Keith Vaz | 26 July 2007 | 13 September 2016 | |||
| Tim Loughton | September 2016 | October 2016 | Conservative | Acting | |
| Yvette Cooper | 19 October 2016 | 1 December 2021 | Labour | ||
| Tim Loughton | 1 December 2021 | 15 December 2021 | Conservative | Acting | |
| Diana Johnson | 15 December 2021 | Incumbent | Labour | ||
Election results
From June 2010 chairs of select committees have been directly elected by a secret ballot of the whole House of Commons using the alternative vote system. Candidates with the fewest votes are eliminated and their votes redistributed until one remaining candidate has more than half of valid votes. Elections are held at the beginning of a parliament or in the event of a vacancy.
| 9 June 2010 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | 1st round | ||
| Votes | % | ||
| Keith Vaz | 336 | 58.1 | |
| Alun Michael | 242 | 41.9 | |
| Valid votes | 578 | ||
| 17 June 2015 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | 1st round | ||
| Votes | % | ||
| Keith Vaz | 412 | 68.2 | |
| Fiona Mactaggart | 192 | 31.8 | |
| Valid votes | 604 | ||
| 19 October 2016 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | 1st round | 2nd round | 3rd round | ||||
| Votes | % | Votes | % | Votes | % | ||
| Yvette Cooper | 216 | 39.9 | 235 | 45.4 | 281 | 58.9 | |
| Caroline Flint | 149 | 27.5 | 161 | 31.1 | 196 | 31.2 | |
| Chuka Umunna | 111 | 20.5 | 112 | 21.6 | Eliminated | ||
| Paul Flynn | 65 | 12.0 | Eliminated | ||||
| Not redistributed | 23 | 4.3 | 64 | 11.8 | |||
| Valid votes | 541 | 518 | 477 | ||||
| 12 July 2017 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | 1st round | ||
| Votes | % | ||
| Yvette Cooper | Unopposed | ||
| Valid votes | N/A | ||
| 30 January 2020 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | 1st round | ||
| Votes | % | ||
| Yvette Cooper | Unopposed | ||
| Valid votes | N/A | ||