Brian Sims
Editor
Brian Sims
Editor
FOLLOWING NOMINATIONS and elections, Dame Karen Bradley DBE MP has been elected chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee in Parliament. The Home Affairs Select Committee is a cross-party gathering of MPs responsible for scrutinising the work of the Home Office and its associated bodies. It examines Government policy, spending and the law in areas including security and policing.
Source: Official portrait for Dame Karen Bradley - MPs and Lords - UK Parliament
Deed - Attribution 3.0 Unported - Creative Commons
Dame Karen is a Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Staffordshire Moorlands since 2010. She served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2018 to 2019.
“I am delighted to have been elected chair of the Home Affairs Committee,” enthused Dame Karen. “Crime, security and immigration remain big challenges for the Government and matter to all of us. I look forward to working with Home Affairs Committee colleagues from across the House to scrutinise these issues and the wider work of the Home Office.”
Serious Crime Act
Bradley has served as an MP for 14 years. As the Minister for Preventing Abuse, Exploitation and Crime at the Home Office, she brought forward the Serious Crime Act and then the Modern Slavery Act.
“Modern slavery is not a crime happening somewhere obscure overseas,” asserted Bradley, “but right here in the UK. It's impossible to estimate the number of victims of modern slavery in our country reliably, but it’s clear that there are at least 10,000. In 2023, the National Referral Mechanism for Modern Slavery received 17,004 referrals, which is the highest ever. That's both heartbreaking and unacceptable.”
How can the Home Office better address modern slavery? “One problem is that the department does not distinguish between human smuggling, where people are illegally transported with their consent, and human trafficking, in which the individuals illegally transported are victims of coercion and exploitation. I’m concerned that this vital distinction is being systematically missed by Home Office policymakers. The result is confused policymaking. As chair of the Home Affairs Committee, I’ll make addressing this problem a priority.”
Complex division of responsibilities
Bradley has previously observed that the complex division of responsibilities between the Home Office, the Ministry of Justice, the Attorney General’s Office, the Crown Prosecution Service and the UK’s police forces makes it difficult to pursue a unified strategy when tackling a complex problem like violence against women and girls.
“All of these organisations need to be on more or less the same page. As chair, I will aim to help the Home Office work more effectively and challenge ministers to make sure these organisations are aligned.”
Dame Karen concluded: “Every Houses of Parliament session provides opportunities to improve Government and make the UK a better place in which to live. Whatever happens, in my role as an MP I’m going to play my part.”
