1 Introduction
Scope
of this report
1. This report is a review of the Home
Affairs Committee's activities during the 2008-09 Session of Parliament.
We begin with an overview of the main developments in 2008-09
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.
Statistical data on the activities of the Committee in the Session
2008-09 can be found in the Annex.
Overview of the Committee's activities
in 2008-09
2. Our principal remit, as 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". These bodies include "agencies"
such as the UK Border Agency (UKBA) and the Serious and Organised
Crime Agency (SOCA), which possess a degree of autonomy but remain
the ultimate responsibility of the Home Office. 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
related to the completion of the following inquiries: Knife Crime;
Managing Migration: The Points Based System; and The Trade in
Human Beings: Human Trafficking in the UK as well work on topical
issues, including Bogus Colleges and the Gurkhas. 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 2008-09
| Subject
| Evidence sessions in 2008-09
| Outcome
|
| Monitoring of the UK Border Agency
| Nil
| Report, January 2009[1]
|
| Police and the Media
| Nil
| Report, January 2009[2]
|
| Policing Process of the Home Office leak inquiries
| 3
| Report, April 2009[3]
|
| Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill
| Nil
| Report, April 2009[4]
|
| The Trade in Human Beings: Human Trafficking in the UK
| 1
| Report, May 2009[5]
|
| Knife Crime
| 6
| Report, June 2009[6]
|
| Policing of the G20 Protests
| 4
| Report, June 2009[7]
|
| Project CONTEST: The Government's Counter-Terrorism Strategy
| 3
| Report, July 2009[8]
|
| The Cost of Policing Football Matches
| 1
| Report, July 2009[9]
|
| Bogus Colleges
| 2
| Report, July 2009[10]
|
| The Macpherson Report-Ten Years On
| 1
| Report, July 2009[11]
|
| Managing Migration: Points-Based System
| 4
| Report, August 2009[12]
|
| The Detention of Children in the Immigration System
| 1
| Report, November 2009[13]
|
| The work of the UK Border Agency
| 3
| Report, December 2009[14]
|
| Police Authorities
| 1
| Evidence, June 2009
|
| Violent Crime and Drugs
| 1
| Evidence, June 2009
|
| Preferred Candidate for HM Inspector of Constabulary
| 1
| Evidence, June 2009
|
| Tasers |
1
| Evidence, June 2009
|
| The rights of Gurkhas to settle in the UK
| Nil
| Evidence, May 2009
|
| Settlement Rights of the Gurkhas
| 1
| Evidence, June 2009
|
| The work of the Home Office
| 1
| Evidence, October 2009
|
| Work of ACPO
| 1
| Evidence, October 2009
|
| The Cocaine Trade
| 3
| Oral evidence to be resumed in 2009
|
| Home Office's Response to Terrorist Attacks
| 2
| Oral evidence to be resumed in 2009
|
VISITS
4. Below (Table 2) is a complete list
of all of our visits as a Committee and when individual Members
have represented the Committee overseas in the Session 2008-09.
5. As part of our ongoing inquiry into
The Cocaine Trade we have undertaken two overseas visits. Given
Iberia's position as a smuggling route for cocaine destined for
Northern Europe, in September we visited Portugal and Spain to
investigate the work done by the European Monitoring Centre for
Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMDDA) and the European Maritime Analysis
and Operations Centre—Narcotics (MAOC-N) which are both
based in Lisbon, and the work done by Spanish enforcement authorities.
In October we visited the Netherlands, as much of the cocaine
which is smuggled into the United Kingdom enters Europe via the
port of Rotterdam or through Schiphol international airport, and
co-operation between Dutch and British law enforcement authorities
is increasingly close.
6. In addition on three occasions individual
Members have represented the Committee at inter-Parliamentary
meetings of the European Union or during visits to supra-national
European bodies such as Europol.
7. Members of the Committee have also
travelled extensively within the United Kingdom to gather information,
and to see first-hand the issues which are under our scrutiny.
For example, as part of our inquiry into The detention of children
in the immigration system, we visited Yarl's Wood Immigration
Detention Centre in Bedfordshire, while the Chairman and Gwyn
Prosser MP visited the port of Dover to investigate juxtaposed
border controls as part of our inquiry into E-borders. During
the course of the year members also visited Gatwick and Croydon,
in relation to the Managing Migration: the Points-based system
inquiry; Leeds, to hold a seminar for the Knife Crime inquiry;
and Maidstone in Kent in relation to The Cocaine Trade inquiry.
8. We are most grateful to all of those
who hosted us during our visits and in particular we thank the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and staff at UKBA who have often
arranged domestic visits on our behalf.Table
2: Visits by the Home Affairs Committee in 2008-09
| Location
| Purpose of visit
|
| Prague |
Inquiry into Human Trafficking; and Drugs
|
| Lisbon and Madrid
| Inquiry into the Cocaine Trade
|
| Netherlands
| Inquiry into the Cocaine Trade
|
| Stockholm
| Visit by Martin Salter MP in a representative capacity to attend the meeting of the Home Affairs Committees of EU Member States on the subject of Human Trafficking
|
| The Hague
| Visit by Keith Vaz MP to Europol, in a representative capacity
|
| Brussels |
Visit by David T.C. Davies MP in a representative capacity to attend the Joint Parliamentary Meeting on Building a Citizens' Europe - The "Stockholm Programme" 2010-2014 - The Parliamentary dimension of a European Area of Freedom, Security and Justice
|
| Leeds |
Inquiry into Knife Crime
|
| Royal Opera House, London
| Inquiry into Managing Migration: The Points Based System
|
| Gatwick and Croydon
| Inquiry into Managing Migration: The Points Based System
|
| Firearms and Public Order Training Facility , Gravesend
| Inquiry into Policing of the G20 Protests
|
| Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre
| Inquiry into the Detention of Children in the Immigration Service
|
9. In 2008-09 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 paragraphs 40-41).
1 First Report, HC 77 Back
2
Second Report, HC 75 Back
3
Fourth Report, HC 157 Back
4
Fifth Report, HC 425 Back
5
Sixth Report, HC 23 Back
6
Seventh Report, HC 112 Back
7
Eighth Report, HC 418 Back
8
Ninth Report, HC 212 Back
9
Tenth Report, HC 676 Back
10
Eleventh Report, HC 595 Back
11
Twelfth Report, HC 427 Back
12
Thirteenth Report, HC 217 Back
13
First Report of Session 2009-10, HC 73 Back
14
Second Report of Session 2009-10, HC 105 Back
|
