Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood faces questions from Home Affairs Committee

Overview

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood appeared before the UK House of Commons Home Affairs Committee for a second evidence session. The committee focused on policing, violence against women and girls (VAWG), and migration (regular and irregular).

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Policing and police reform

• Mahmood reiterated the government’s long-standing case for major police reform, arguing that the current structure of 43 police forces is difficult to balance. Forces must handle both local neighbourhood policing and specialist/national functions, leading to inconsistent standards.
• She outlined a proposed three-tier model:
  1. Local policing areas (down to local authority level), intended as the “bedrock” of visible, everyday policing—analogous to a “borough command”
  2. Smaller regional strategic forces for specialist work and surge capacity
  3. A National Police Service (NPS) for system leadership and national/international organised crime
• A key change under the new government is stronger emphasis on devolution (“Rewiring the State”), so police boundaries should align as far as practical with mayoral/combined authority boundaries.
• Mahmood said she asked Lord Hogan-Howe (carrying out an independent review of force structure) to re-test evidence against the new government’s devolution priorities, expected within the next few weeks.
• Timeframe/legislation:
  • Plans for the NPS are underway and require a Police Reform Bill for statutory underpinning.
  • Operational readiness is aimed for by the end of this parliament.
  • A commissioner designate will be appointed once the bill is introduced.
  • She stressed she will not transfer capabilities from the NCA/counterterror until ready.
• Funding for reform:
  • Setup costs for the NPS were cited at around £340 million.
  • Two-thirds of costs are already committed, with about a third expected from the next spending review.
• Abolition of police and crime commissioners (PCCs):
  • The government intends to abolish PCCs (with elections largely not proceeding in 2028).
  • Oversight will move to mayors where policing boundaries align, and to new policing boards (potentially involving multiple mayors and local authority leaders) where they do not.
• The committee pressed for practical impacts, particularly whether residents in rural and local areas will see improvement. Mahmood argued the new structure aims to reduce “postcode lottery” and prevent specialist services from depending on force size/capacity.
• Neighbourhood policing:
  • The government is still pursuing manifesto targets.
  • Mahmood linked the approach to reduced demand and crime, while acknowledging issues such as abstractions (officers temporarily pulled away).
  • Work is underway on national standards for what abstraction should look like, delivered by the end of this parliament.
• Police leadership and morale:
  • Mahmood welcomed a report by Lord Blunkett and Lord Herbert on leadership (commissioned by her predecessor).
  • The government will respond in autumn with a full plan covering 27 recommendations.
  • She referenced:
    • improved leadership pipelines/appointments panels,
    • promotion system reform,
    • wellbeing and operational support (including the “college of policing” work and a new wellbeing service after PC Blac[k] & PC Blades),
    • an end-to-end police accountability review (starting in July; six-month programme).
  • The committee highlighted allegations of underinvestment in leadership training and concerns about the costs of misconduct processes (e.g., officers on full pay while investigated).
  • Mahmood argued disciplinary reform must be faster and “fair” while protecting due process.

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VAWG (violence against women and girls)

• Mahmood defended the government’s cross-department implementation model:
  • The VAWG strategy is jointly led by the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice.
  • It is overseen by a monthly ministerial board attending multiple departments.
• Rape and sexual offences teams (police):
  • Mahmood said the commitment to roll out specialist rape and sexual offence teams within 18 months is achievable.
  • She noted about half of forces already have specialist teams.
  • The national centre (NCVP/NCVPP) will update the committee on 1 October.
  • She argued the goal is consistent standards across forces—not deprioritising other work—using different delivery models developed by policing partners.
• Online VAWG:
  • She said the strategy already includes funded undercover policing activity.
  • For wider online policy, she said responses are expected after further work linked to the Online Safety Act, including addressing harms such as AI deepfakes.
  • Mahmood committed to writing to the committee about expected timing for responding to Baroness Burton’s recommendations on “porn”/online harms.
• Domestic abuse and stalking:
  • Mahmood emphasised the prosecution side (CPS), pointing to the Attorney General’s focus on CPS prosecuting approaches.
  • She said policing can identify patterns, while acknowledging improvements may be needed across the criminal justice system.

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Migration: regular and irregular

Regular migration

• Mahmood said migration remains a key public concern and that public sentiment tends to be ahead of political debate.
• She said Lord McDonald’s review is delayed only due to government change and access talks, and will be published once a new timeline is set.
• Earned settlement / settlement reform:
  • Reforms are intended to replace “time-based/automatic” settlement with earned settlement based on contribution and tests.
  • Policy changes will be set out later this year, before people who arrived in 2022 start qualifying in February 2027.
  • She emphasised transitional protections will be consulted on and then set out after policy is finalised.
• Family reunification policy:
  • Mahmood explained that a specific refugee family reunion route was suspended by the previous administration amid rising numbers.
  • The government aims for a more streamlined system across categories (refugees, British citizens, work/other routes).
  • She did not provide a firm reinstatement timeline, citing defensibility and the complexity of rationalising multiple routes.
• International students:
  • Mahmood said the government welcomes legitimate students but is focused on abuse, especially switching from student status into asylum claims.
  • She referred to measures such as visa breaks, and stressed the principle that universities should be selling education—not immigration outcomes.

Irregular migration

• Channel crossings:
  • Mahmood said arrivals are down (figures mentioned: around 40% down year-on-year), offering to confirm exact numbers later.
  • She attributed the decline to a suite of measures, especially law enforcement disruption, plus upstream activity in Europe and the seizure of boats/equipment—not simply reduced demand.
  • She discussed changing tactics by gangs (including displacement westward and attempts from Belgium) and said the government is adapting.
• “One-in, one-out” pilot with France:
  • Mahmood acknowledged operational difficulty in scaling large weekly removals.
  • The concept remains viable as a “proof of concept.”
  • Initial figures suggest removals track arrivals directionally over time.
  • She discussed a figure of about £56,000 per person for the pilot figures discussed, and said it is difficult to isolate deterrence effects from the wider enforcement picture.
  • She said the pilot has been extended beyond the originally expected window into October.
• Failed asylum family return payments:
  • Mahmood said the £40,000 voluntary return offer pilot for failed asylum-seeking families has accepted relatively small numbers so far.
  • She did not give the exact figure at the time and promised to write once the scheme concludes and lessons are evaluated.
• Asylum decision-making quality:
  • Mahmood said decision processes were affected by inherited issues from a 2023 model.
  • Reforms based on ICIBI recommendations are being implemented.
  • Internal assurance measures were cited indicating around 93% of decisions are correct at initial decision points.
• Asylum accommodation / break clause:
  • Mahmood said exiting inherited asylum contracts is constrained by the need for scale accommodation to avoid homelessness.
  • The government is transitioning toward a new model with more involvement of local authorities.
  • She argued full devolution is structurally risky because some areas refuse to participate and surges/security logistics must be nationally managed.
  • Hotel closures would continue as part of broader accommodation restructuring, but the break clause could not be used immediately without replacement capacity.
• Manston:
  • Mahmood said she is confident the facility is “well run.”
  • She offered to write about procurement/contracting processes and standards, avoiding speculation about broader contractor histories.
• Accountability and cost of asylum dispersal pressure (Scotland and regional disparities):
  • Mahmood acknowledged severe pressure in Glasgow and said other Scottish local authorities have not shared the burden.
  • She said the government is renegotiating rates and moving toward reducing pressure in areas significantly above their allocations, including targeted reductions as new accommodation models roll out.

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Key themes across all topics

• Reform + sequencing: Mahmood repeatedly emphasised reforms will take time and must not compromise operational effectiveness (especially for policing).
• Consistency and standardisation:
  • Policing (specialist teams, neighbourhood models, leadership, accountability)
  • VAWG (rape/specialist teams and consistent investigative standards)
• Cross-system approach:
  • VAWG (Home Office + MoJ and multiple departments)
  • Migration (criminal justice system and policing, and multi-agency enforcement)
• Public confidence and legitimacy: Many changes were framed as necessary to restore trust—whether around policing leadership/accountability or around migration management and fairness/contribution.

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Presenters / contributors (named in subtitles)

• Shabana Mahmood (Home Secretary)
• Lewis Atkinson (Member of Parliament)
• Peter [Princeley / Princeley] (Member of Parliament; appears as “Peter Princeley” in subtitles)
• Margaret [Mlain / Milain] (Member of Parliament)
• Jan Reed (Member of Parliament)
• Robbie Moore (Member of Parliament)
• Ben Maguire (Member of Parliament)
• Louis Atkinson / Louis Atinson (Member of Parliament; subtitle spelling varies)
• Margaret Malone (Member of Parliament)
• Samu [“Social Paris” / reporter] (referenced source)
• Lord Hogan-Howe (reviewer referenced)
• Lord Blunkett and Lord Herbert (authors of the policing leadership commission report)
• Sir Mark Rowley (referenced in policing leadership discussion)
• Matt Jukes (referenced on police leadership/morale concerns)
• Baroness Burton (referenced on online harms/porn review)
• Lord McDonald (reviewer on migration policy referenced)
• Attorney General (mentioned; not named in subtitles)
• ICIBI (referenced as decision-making assurance body)
• NCVPP/NCVP (referenced as national centre for violence against women and girls/public protection)

Note: Some titles/names appear distorted due to auto-caption errors, but the individuals/contributors listed are the identifiable ones from the transcript.