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Home Office

The Home Office (HO), also known (especially in official papers and when referred to in Parliament) as the Home Department,[2] is a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for immigration, security, and law and order. As such, it is responsible for policing in England and Wales, fire and rescue services in England, Border Force, visas and immigration, and the Security Service (MI5). It is also in charge of government policy on security-related issues such as drugs, counterterrorism, and immigration. It was formerly responsible for His Majesty's Prison Service and the National Probation Service, but these have been transferred to the Ministry of Justice.

Home Office

2 Marsham Street, Westminster
Department overview
Formed27 March 1782; 242 years ago (1782-03-27)
Preceding Department
JurisdictionGovernment of the United Kingdom
Headquarters2 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4DF
Annual budget£20.3 billion (2022-2023)[1]
Secretary of State responsible
Ministers of State (attending Cabinet) responsible
Department executive
Websitewww.gov.uk/home-office Edit this at Wikidata
A Home Office Immigration Enforcement vehicle in north London

The Cabinet minister responsible for the department is the Home Secretary,[3] a post considered one of the Great Offices of State; it has been held by James Cleverly since November 2023. The Home Office is managed from day to day by a civil servant, the Permanent Under-Secretary of State of the Home Office.

The expenditure, administration, and policy of the Home Office are scrutinised by the Home Affairs Select Committee.[4]

Organisation

The Home Office is headed by the Home Secretary, a Cabinet minister supported by the department's senior civil servant, the permanent secretary.

Organisational structure

The Home Office comprises eleven directorates that help fulfil the department's responsibilities.[5]

Immigration

  • Border Force – controls migration at ports and airports across the UK and overseas.
  • HM Passport Office – provides passport and civil registration services in England and Wales.
  • Immigration Enforcement – responsible for enforcing immigration law in the UK.
  • UK Visas and Immigration – processes visa, asylum, and citizenship applications.
  • Migration and Borders Group – responsible for immigration policymaking.

Public services and policing

Other

  • Corporate and Delivery – fulfils corporate duties such as human resources, project management, finance, and IT.
  • Communications Directorate – delivers communications to the wider public to achieve the Home Office's objectives.
  • STARS (Science, Technology, Analysis, Research, and Strategy) – performs data and evidence analysis to maximise organisational effectiveness.

Other related public bodies

As of April 2024, the Home Office works with the following agencies and public bodies:[6]

Executive non-departmental public bodies

Advisory non-departmental public bodies

Tribunals

Independent monitoring bodies

Others

Budget and spending

In the financial year 2022-2023, the Home Office had a total budget of £20.3 billion.[7]

Spending by financial year
Directorate2022-2023
Resource
(£millions)		Capital
(£millions)
Delivery77.83.0
STARS34.643.0
Homeland Security Group1,125.1157.8
Public Safety Group11,204.4225.4
Migration & Borders228.0172.2
Customer Service (UKVI & HMPO)-3,166.387.4
Asylum & Protection4,498.86.9
Borders & Enforcement1,404.8135.4
Corporate Enablers945.637.9
Digital Data & Technology473.040.0
Legal11.1-
Communications8.6-
Arms Length Bodies99.916.4
Total17,005.3925.4

Home Office ministers

The Home Office ministers are as follows, with cabinet ministers in bold:[8]

MinisterPortraitOfficePortfolio
The Rt Hon. James Cleverly TD VR MP Secretary of State for the Home DepartmentOverall responsibility for all Home Office business, including:; overarching responsibility for the departmental portfolio and oversight of the ministerial team; cabinet; National Security Council (NSC); public appointments; oversight of the Security Service; overall responsibility for the Home Office response to COVID-19 including health measures at the border and police powers to enforce lockdown.[9]
The Rt Hon. Tom Tugendhat MBE VR MP Minister of State for SecurityCounter terrorism – Prepare, Prevent, Pursue, Protect; response to state threats; cyber security and crime; serious and organised crime; oversight of NCA; aviation and maritime security; economic security; economic crime (including anti-corruption and illicit finance); international criminality; fraud; countering extremism; extradition policy and operations; Special Cases Unit (exclusions, deprivations etc.); MP security and VIP protection; online safety; victims of terrorism.[10]
The Rt Hon. Michael Tomlinson KC MP Minister of State for Countering Illegal ImmigrationSafety of Rwanda Bill; Illegal Migration Act implementation; Nationality and Borders Act implementation; small boats policy; asylum and modern slavery policy; upstream and organised immigration crime; returns and removals; Migration and Economic Development Partnership; third country agreements and third country asylum processing; foreign national offender removal; detention estate; Immigration Enforcement; compliant environment.[11]
Tom Pursglove MP Minister of State for Legal Migration and the BorderNet migration; UK points-based system; simplifying the immigration system and immigration rules; current and future visa policy; nationality; Windrush; Home Office interests in free trade; Future Borders and Immigration System and Border Strategy 2025; agreements; UK Visas and Immigration, HM Passport Office and EU Settlement Scheme; asylum decision making (backlog); accommodation (closing hotels); Border Force operations;

Safe and legal routes and resettlement, including:Ukraine Family Scheme, Homes for Ukraine Scheme, Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme, Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy, Hong Kong British Nationals (Overseas), Gaza and Israel.[12]

The Rt Hon. Chris Philp MP Minister of State for Crime, Policing and FirePolicing; police accountability and efficiency; local policing response to organised crime; public order, major events and Public Order Bill; cutting crime; criminal justice system; drugs and county lines; unauthorised encampments; firearms; alcohol and licensing; anti-social behaviour; neighbourhood crime; policing elements of RASSO (and any wider policing elements of the safeguarding portfolio); civil contingencies; ESMCP; Police, Crime, Sentencing and the Courts Act; fire policy; Home Office elements of fire operations; Grenfell.
Laura Farris MP Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Victims and SafeguardingTackling violence against women and girls; domestic abuse; FGM and forced marriage; child sexual abuse and exploitation; Disclosure and Barring Service; Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority; sexual violence; Rape Review; prostitution; stalking; hate crime; crime prevention; early youth intervention; victim support; victims elements of RASSO; spiking.
Held jointly with the Ministry of Justice
The Rt Hon. The Lord Sharpe of Epsom OBE Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home DepartmentHome Office responsibilities: public safety and national security 'shadow' in the Lords; public safety and national security legislation. Cross-cutting: departmental reform and Transformation Programme; commercial; digital and technology; data and identity; analysis, science and research; programme portfolio; public appointments and sponsorship; inquiries; Better Regulation.

Priorities

The Department outlined its aims for this Parliament in its Business Plan, which was published in May 2011, and superseded its Structural Reform Plan.[13] The plan said the department will:

1. Empower the public to hold the police to account for their role in cutting crime
2. Free up the police to fight crime more effectively and efficiently
  • Cut police bureaucracy, end unnecessary central interference and overhaul police powers in order to cut crime, reduce costs and improve police value for money. Simplify national institutional structures and establish a National Crime Agency to strengthen the fight against organised crime (and replace the Serious Organised Crime Agency).
3. Create a more integrated criminal justice system
  • Help the police and other public services work together across the criminal justice system.
4. Secure our borders and reduce immigration
  • Deliver an improved migration system that commands public confidence and serves our economic interests. Limit non-EU economic migrants, and introduce new measures to reduce inflow and minimise abuse of all migration routes, for example the student route. Process asylum applications more quickly, and end the detention of children for immigration purposes.
5. Protect people's freedoms and civil liberties
  • Reverse state interference to ensure there is not disproportionate intrusion into people's lives.
6. Protect our citizens from terrorism
  • Keep people safe through the Government's approach to counter-terrorism.
7. Build a fairer and more equal society (through the Government Equalities Office)
  • Help create a fair and flexible labour market. Change culture and attitudes. Empower individuals and communities. Improve equality structures, frontline services and support; and help Government Departments and others to consider equality as a matter of course.

The Home Office publishes progress against the plan on the 10 Downing Street website.[14]

History

On 27 March 1782; 242 years ago (1782-03-27), the Home Office was formed by renaming the existing Southern Department, with all existing staff transferring. On the same day, the Northern Department was renamed the Foreign Office.

To match the new names, there was a transferring of responsibilities between the two Departments of State. All domestic responsibilities (including colonies) were moved to the Home Office, and all foreign matters became the concern of the Foreign Office.

Most subsequently created domestic departments (excluding, for instance, those dealing with education) have been formed by splitting responsibilities away from the Home Office.

The initial responsibilities were:

  • Answering petitions and addresses sent to the King
  • Advising the King on
  • Issuing instructions on behalf of the King to officers of The Crown, lords-lieutenant and magistrates, mainly concerning law and order
  • Operation of the secret service within the UK
  • Protecting the public
  • Safeguarding the rights and liberties of individuals
  • Colonial matters

Responsibilities were subsequently changed over the years that followed:[15]

The Home Office retains a variety of functions that have not found a home elsewhere and sit oddly with the main law-and-order focus of the department, such as regulation of British Summer Time.

Recent incidents

Union action

On 18 July 2012, the Public and Commercial Services Union announced that thousands of Home Office employees would go on strike over jobs, pay and other issues.[17] The union called off the strike; it claimed the department had, consequent to the threat of actions, announced 1,100 new border jobs.[18]

Windrush scandal

The first allegations about the targeting of pre-1973 Caribbean migrants started in 2013.[citation needed] In 2018, the allegations were put to the Home Secretary in the House of Commons, and resulted in the resignation of the then Home Secretary. The Windrush scandal resulted in some British citizens being wrongly deported, along with a further compensation scheme for those affected, and a wider debate on the Home Office hostile environment policy.[citation needed]

Aderonke Apata

Aderonke Apata, a Nigerian LGBT activist, made two asylum claims that were both rejected by the Home Office in 2014 and on 1 April 2015 respectively, due to her previously having been in a relationship with a man and having children with that man.[19][20][21][22][23] In 2014, Apata said that she would send an explicit video of herself to the Home Office to prove her sexuality.[19] This resulted in her asylum bid gaining widespread support, with multiple petitions created in response, which gained hundreds of thousands of signatures combined.[21]

On 8 August 2017, after a thirteen-year legal battle and after a new appeal from Apata was scheduled for late July, she was granted refugee status in the United Kingdom by the Home Office.[24]

The former Home Office building at 50 Queen Anne's Gate, London
Lunar House in Croydon, which holds the headquarters of UK Visas and Immigration

Location

Until 1978, the Home Office had its offices in what is now the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Main Building on King Charles Street, off Whitehall. From 1978 to 2004, the Home Office was then located at 50 Queen Anne's Gate, a Brutalist office block in Westminster designed by Sir Basil Spence, close to St James's Park tube station. Many functions, however, were devolved to offices in other parts of London, and the country, notably the headquarters of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate in Croydon.

In 2005, the Home Office moved to a new main office designed by Sir Terry Farrell at 2 Marsham Street, Westminster, on the site of the demolished Marsham Towers building of the Department of the Environment.[25]

For external shots of its fictional Home Office, the TV series Spooks uses an aerial shot of the Government Offices Great George Street instead, serving as stand-in to match the distinctly less modern appearance of the fictitious accommodation interiors the series uses.[26]

Research

To meet the UK's five-year science and technology strategy,[27] the Home Office sponsors research in police sciences, including:

  • Biometrics – including face and voice recognition
  • Cell type analysis – to determine the origin of cells (e.g. hair, skin)
  • Chemistry – new techniques to recover latent fingerprints
  • DNA – identifying offender characteristics from DNA
  • Improved profiling – of illicit drugs to help identify their source
  • Raman Spectroscopy – to provide more sensitive drugs and explosives detectors (e.g. roadside drug detection)
  • Terahertz imaging methods and technologies – e.g. image analysis and new cameras, to detect crime, enhance images and support anti-terrorism

Devolution

Most front-line law and order policy areas, such as policing and criminal justice, are devolved in Scotland and Northern Ireland (and only very partially in Wales), but the following reserved and excepted matters are handled by Westminster.

Northern Ireland

Excepted matters:[28]

The following matters were not transferred at the devolution of policing and justice on 12 April 2010, and remain reserved:[29]

The Home Office's main counterparts in Northern Ireland are:

The Department of Justice is accountable to the Northern Ireland Executive, whereas the Northern Ireland Office is a UK government department.

Scotland

Reserved matters:[31]

The Scottish Government Justice and Safer Communities Directorates are responsible for devolved justice and home affairs policy.

Wales

Reserved matters:

Criticism

In March 2019, it was reported that in two unrelated cases, the Home Office denied asylum to converted Christians by misrepresenting certain Bible quotes. In one case, it quoted selected excerpts from the Bible to imply that Christianity is not more peaceful than Islam, the asylum-seeker's original religion.[32] In another incident, an Iranian Christian application for asylum was rejected because her faith was judged as "half-hearted", for she did not believe that Jesus could protect her from the Iranian regime.[33] As criticism grew on social media, the Home Office distanced itself from the decision, though it confirmed the letter was authentic.[34] The Home Secretary[who?] said that it was "totally unacceptable" for his department to quote the Bible to question an Iranian Christian convert's asylum application, and ordered an urgent investigation into what had happened.[35]

The treatment of Christian asylum-seekers chimes with other incidents in the past, such as the refusal to grant visas to the Archbishop of Mosul to attend the consecration of the UK's first Syriac Orthodox Cathedral.[36][better source needed] In a 2017 study, the Christian Barnabas Fund found that only 0.2% of all Syrian refugees accepted by the UK were Christians, although Christians accounted for approximately 10% of Syria's pre-war population.[37]

In 2019, the Home Office admitted to multiple breaches of data protection regulations in the handling of its Windrush compensation scheme. The department sent emails to Windrush migrants which revealed the email address of other Windrush migrants to whom the email was sent. The data breach concerned five different emails, each of which was sent to 100 recipients.[38] In April 2019, the Home Office admitted to revealing 240 personal email addresses of EU citizens applying for settled status in the UK. The email addresses of applicants were incorrectly sent to other applicants to the scheme.[39] In response to these incidents, the Home Office pledged to launch an independent review of its data protection compliance.[40]

In 2019, the Court of Appeal issued a judgement which criticised the Home Office's handling of immigration cases. The judges stated that the "general approach [by the home secretary, Sajid Javid] in all earnings discrepancy cases [has been] legally flawed". The judgement relates to the Home Office's interpretation of Section 322(5) of the Immigration Rules.[41]

In November 2020, the Equality and Human Rights Commission, a statutory body that investigates breaches of the Equality Act 2010 published a report concluding that the Home Office had a "lack of organisation-wide commitment, including by senior leadership, to the importance of equality and the Home Office's obligations under the equality duty placed on government departments". The report noted that the Home Office's pursuit of the "hostile environment" policy from 2012 onwards "accelerated the impact of decades of complex policy and practice based on a history of white and black immigrants being treated differently". Caroline Waters, the interim chair of the EHRC, described the treatment of Windrush immigrants by the Home Office as a "shameful stain on British history".[42]

See also

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Home Office.
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