![]() 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 (UK and the Commonwealth) |
Status | Great Office of State |
Member of | Cabinet Privy Council National Security Council |
Reports to | The Prime Minister |
Seat | Westminster |
Appointer | The Crown on advice of the Prime Minister |
Term length | At Her Majesty's pleasure |
Formation | 27 March 1782 |
First holder | Earl of Shelburne |
Website | www |
The Home Secretary,[note 1] is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of the Home Office. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the Home Secretary is a senior member of the British Cabinet.
The current Secretary of State for the Home Department is Priti Patel, MP, who was appointed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson in July 2019.[1]
Corresponding to what is generally known as an interior minister in many other countries, the Home Secretary's remit includes:
The position of Secretary of State for the Home Department was created in the British governmental reorganisation of 1782, in which the Northern and Southern Departments became the Foreign Office and Home Office respectively.
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.