Home Office
Headquarters at 2 Marsham Street, Westminster | |
| Department overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 27 March 1782 |
| Preceding Department |
|
| Jurisdiction | Government of the United Kingdom |
| Headquarters | 2 Marsham Street, London |
| Annual budget | £20.3 billion (2022–2023)[1] |
| Secretary of State responsible |
|
| Department executives |
|
| Website | gov |
The Home Office (HO), also known (especially in official papers and when referred to in Parliament) as the Home Department,[2] is the United Kingdom's interior ministry. It is responsible for public safety and policing, border security, immigration, passports, and civil registration.
Agencies under its purview include police in England and Wales, Border Force, the Visas and Immigration authority, and the Security Service (MI5). It also manages policy on 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.
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 Shabana Mahmood since September 2025. 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]
- ^ Home Office annual report and accounts: 2022 to 2023, Home Office, 19 September 2023, ISBN 978-1-5286-4083-1
- ^ Department of the Official Report (Hansard), House of Commons, Westminster (9 June 2008). "Hansard – Oral Questions to the Home Department – 9 June 2008". Publications.Parliament.uk. Government of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 19 June 2010.
- ^ "Secretary of State for the Home Department - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
- ^ "Role - Home Affairs Committee". parliament.uk. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
The House of Commons appoints the Committee with the task of examining the expenditure, administration, and policy of the Home Office and its associated public bodies.