Scope of this report

1. This report is a review of the Home Affairs Committee's activities during the calendar year 2007. We begin with an overview of the main developments in 2007 and then present an analysis of the Committee's performance in relation to the indicative 'core tasks' for select committees specified by the Liaison Committee. We conclude with some comments on our working practices and on our relations with the Home Office.

Overview of the Committee's activities in 2007

2. Our principal remit, set out in House of Commons standing orders, is "to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the Home Office and its associated public bodies".[1] In carrying out our remit we aim to strike a balance between undertaking inquiries into major policy issues, examining the Department's discharge of its duties across the range of its activities—including legislation and legislative proposals—and responding rapidly to important developments relating to the work of the Home Office and that of its associated public bodies.

3. Our major activities this year have been the completion of our inquiries into Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) Issues at European Union Level and Young Black People and the Criminal Justice System; our inquiry into the Government's Counter-Terrorism Proposals; on which we reported in December 2007, and an inquiry we have called A Surveillance Society? which we aim to complete early in 2008. A full list of subjects into which we inquired is set out in the table below.

Table 1: Subjects covered by the Home Affairs Committee in 2007

Subject	Evidence sessions in 2007	Outcome
Young Black People and the Criminal Justice System	4	Report, May 2007[2]
Justice and Home Affairs Issues at EU Level	3	Report, June 2007[3]
Police Funding	1	Report, July 2007[4]
The Government's Counter-Terrorism Proposals	6	Report, December 2007[5]
A Surveillance Society?	5	Report to be published
The Accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the EU: twelve months on	1	Report, January 2008[6]
The Security Industry Authority: Licensing of Applicants	1	Report, January 2008[7]
Knife Crime	1	Evidence, March 2007
Towards Effective Sentencing	1	Evidence, May 2007
The Future of the Home Office	1	Evidence, April 2007
The Work of the Home Office 2007	1	Evidence, July 2007
UK Immigration Issues	1	Evidence, November 2007
Home Office Annual Report 2007	1	Evidence, December 2007
The Government's Counter-Terrorism Bill	1	Evidence, December 2007
Police Pay	1	Evidence, December 2007

4. During 2007, we went on a number of visits, as set out in Table 2 below. Our inquiry into Justice and Home Affairs Issues at EU Level included a visit to the headquarters of Frontex, the new European border control agency, in Warsaw. Our time in Warsaw gave us a useful insight into the work of what was then a young organisation, and the subject of some controversy. Our major overseas visit of 2007, to Washington DC, Annapolis and Baltimore, proved invaluable in gathering information in connection with two inquiries: A Surveillance Society? and the Government's Counter-Terrorism Proposals. In particular, meetings with interlocutors at the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice informed our examination of the Government's proposal that further consideration be given to the admission of intercept material as evidence in court.

5. We undertook the last of our visits in connection with our inquiry into Young Black People and the Criminal Justice System early in 2007, when we spent a day at Her Majesty's Young Offenders Institute, Feltham. Once again we came away with much that helped us as we completed our inquiry, and we look forward to a series of visits within the UK to gather information for our inquiry into Domestic Violence.

6. We are most grateful to all of those who hosted us during our visits and in particular we thank the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the National Parliament Office in Brussels and the staff of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Liberties and Guarantees of the Assembleia da República, Portugal, for their assistance.

Table 2: Visits by the Home Affairs Committee in 2007

Location	Purpose of visit
Her Majesty's Young Offenders Institute, Feltham	Inquiry into Young Black People and the Criminal Justice System
Warsaw, Poland	Inquiry into Justice and Home Affairs Issues at EU Level
Lisbon, Portugal	Visit by the Chairman in a representative capacity to attend Portuguese EU Presidency Conference of Justice and Home Affairs Committees
Washington DC, Annapolis and Baltimore	Inquiries into A Surveillance Society? and The Government's Counter-Terrorism Proposals
Brussels	Visit by Mr Gary Streeter in a representative capacity to attend the Joint Committee Meeting of the LIBE Committee, European Parliament, and National Parliaments[8]

7. In 2007 we have continued to explore new ways of working, and to extend the range of the Committee's work, by undertaking some shorter inquiries and holding one-off evidence sessions on topical issues, in addition to our more detailed scrutiny of major policy areas (see below at paragraph 54).

8. Machinery of Government changes in 2007 had significant implications for the work of the Committee. On 29 March 2007 the Home Office took on additional responsibilities in relation to security and counter-terrorism, and a transfer of responsibility for prisons, probation and sentencing to the new Ministry of Justice took effect on 9 May. The Machinery of Government changes announced in June 2007—which created the Department for Children, Schools and Families—have also had an impact on policy areas, such as Youth Justice, which are relevant to our work.

9. The Home Office and the Ministry of Justice share a core focus on public protection and crime reduction; the effect of Machinery of Government changes and their main areas of responsibility are indicated in the table below.

Table 3: Main Departmental responsibilities following Machinery of Government changes in 2007

Policy area	Effect of Machinery of Government changes on Departmental responsibility
Security and counter-terrorism	Remains with the Home Office (which is to play an enhanced role)
Policing	Remains with the Home Office
Anti-social behaviour	Remains with the Home Office
Drugs	Remains with the Home Office
Crime reduction	Remains with the Home Office
Immigration, asylum and identity	Remains with the Home Office
Criminal law and sentencing	Transferred to the Ministry of Justice
Offender management	Transferred to the Ministry of Justice
Re-offending	Transferred to the Ministry of Justice
Prisons and probation	Transferred to the Ministry of Justice

10. Having embarked on a major inquiry into Towards Effective Sentencing in February 2007, we had received a substantial amount of written evidence and taken oral evidence from Rt Hon Lord Woolf, former Lord Chief Justice, when the Machinery of Government changes took effect: it was with some regret that we ceased our work in this area. Before publishing the evidence we took the step of passing it to the then Constitutional Affairs Committee; we are glad to see that the new Justice Committee has taken up this inquiry alongside its scrutiny of draft Sentencing Guidelines issued under the authority of the Sentencing Guidelines Council, which was also formerly within the remit of the Home Affairs Committee.

11. On 24 April we took evidence on the implications of the Machinery of Government changes from the then Home Secretary, Rt Hon John Reid MP. We heard part of this evidence—that which concerned the context in which the Home Office was to take on a strengthened role in relation to counter-terrorism—in private. The Home Office subsequently provided us with a memorandum on how the Machinery of Government changes have been implemented and in 2008 we will continue to monitor the effect of the transfer of functions and responsibilities on those policy and operational areas within our remit.[9]

2   Second Report of Session 2006-07 (HC 181) Back

3   Third Report of Session 2006-07 (HC 76) Back

4   Fourth Report of Session 2006-07 (HC 553) Back

5   First Report of Session 2007-08 (HC 43) Back

6   Second Report of Session 2007-08 (HC 59) Back

7   Third Report of Session 2007-08 (HC 144) Back

8   See below at para 57 Back

9   The Future of the Home Office: oral and written evidence (HC 499-i), published 26 October 2007 Back