Secretary of State for the Home Department | |
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Royal Arms of the Home Office | |
Home Office | |
Style | Home Secretary (informal) The Right Honourable (within the UK and Commonwealth) |
Type | Minister of the Crown |
Status | Department Leader Secretary of State |
Member of | |
Reports to | Prime Minister |
Seat | Westminster |
Nominator | Prime Minister |
Appointer | The Crown (on the advice of the Prime Minister |
Term length | At HM Pleasure |
Formation | 7 March 1782 |
First holder | Earl of Shelburne |
Website | www |
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Politics of the United Kingdom |
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The home secretary, officially the secretary of state for the Home Department, is a minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom, and the head of the Home Office.[1] As a Great Office of State, the home secretary is one of the most senior ministers in the government. The incumbent is a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom, fifth in the ministerial ranking.[2]
The position was created in 1782,[3] though its responsibilities have changed many times.[4] Past office holders have included the Prime Ministers Lord North, Robert Peel, the Duke of Wellington, Lord Palmerston, Winston Churchill, James Callaghan, and Theresa May. In 2007, Jacqui Smith became the first woman home secretary.[5]
The office holder works alongside the other Home Office ministers and the Home Office permanent secretary. The corresponding shadow minister is the shadow home secretary, and the performance of the home secretary is also scrutinised by the Home Affairs Select Committee[6] and the Justice and Home Affairs Committee.[7]
Priti Patel was appointed Home Secretary by Prime Minister Boris Johnson in July 2019.[8]
Corresponding to what is generally known as an interior minister in many other countries, the home secretary's remit includes:
Formerly, the home secretary was the minister responsible for prisons and probation in England and Wales; however in 2007 those responsibilities were transferred to the Ministry of Justice under the Lord Chancellor.
The title Secretary of State in the government of England dates back to the early 17th century.[9] The position of Secretary of State for the Home Department was created in the British governmental reorganisation of 1782, in which the responsibilities of the Northern and Southern Departments were reformed into the Foreign Office and Home Office.[9]
In 2007, the new Ministry of Justice took on the criminal justice functions of the Home Office and its agencies.[10]