The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the United Kingdom Home Office and is one of the Great Offices of State. The Home Secretary is responsible for internal affairs in England and Wales, and for immigration and citizenship for the whole of the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland). In certain other countries, such as Australia and India, the term Home Secretary refers to the Permanent Secretary, or the senior civil servant, at the Home Ministry of that country.
The remit of the UK ministry includes policing, national security, immigration, and matters of citizenship.
The current Home Secretary is Jacqui Smith.
Responsibilities
The Home Secretary is currently responsible for:
Constitutional & Legal Affairs
The Home Secretary has no responsibility for the Courts of England and Wales. Unlike many other governments issues usually dealt with by a Department of Justice, the British government has three separate departments: The Home Office (as specified above), the Attorney General's Office and the Ministry of Justice, headed by the Secretary of State for Justice, for legal, judicial and civil rights issues.
Development of other government departments
Because the Home Office was initially the primary government department with responsibility for domestic affairs, all subsequent domestic departments have effectively been created by taking responsibilities from the Home Office. Until 2001 this left a variety of miscellaneous tasks that sat apart from the law and order functions of the department, such as British Summer Time or wild birds in Scotland.[1] However, on the appointment of David Blunkett as Home Secretary, these functions - and others such as responsibility for the Fire Brigade - have been reallocated to other departments to give the position a focus solely on law and order.
Home Secretaries since 1782
References
- ^ Roy Jenkins Churchill (Macmillan, 2001), page 170 ISBN 0-333-78290-9
Related pages
Related postings in other countries:
General terms
European positions
North and Central American positions
Asian positions
Australasian positions
See also
External links
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