Home Affairs Select Committee (HASC)

The Home Affairs Select Committee (HASC) is a parliamentary committee of MPs whose remit is to provide scrutiny of the Home Office. 

Its oversight includes policing issues and public inquiries sponsored by the Home Office.

In 1984, there was a committee investigation into Special Branch activity across England. This resulted in the publication of the 1984 Special Branch Guidelines. In short, SDS activities were not discussed during the hearings. In fact, operational details of Special Branches were not subject to scrutiny during the hearings at all. Home Office Guidelines on the Work of a Special Branch, 19 Dec 1984, Home Office, UCPI0000004538.View Document

In 2011, as the spycops scandal was unfolding, Policing Minister Nick Herbert testified to HASC that ‘it is clear to us all that operationally something has gone very wrong’. Police inspectors review undercover operations, BBC News Online, 18 Jan 2011. Home Affairs Select Committee - Examination of Witnesses: Nick Herbert MP, Parliament.UK, 18 Jan 2011.

In 2013, prior to the establishment of the Undercover Policing Inquiry, HASC held specific hearings into the issue, which included testimony from a number of women targeted for relationships, DAC Patricia Gallan for the Metropolitan Police and former undercover EN12 Mark Kennedy / ‘Mark Stone’. Home Affairs Select Committee - Oral Evidence of Harriet Wistrich and others , Parliament.UK, 12 Feb 2013. EN12 Mark Kennedy 'Mark Stone' EN12 Mark Kennedy ('Mark Stone') was an NPOIU undercover officer who operated from 2001 to 2009. Although based in Nottingham for most of his deployment, he infiltrated groups across the UK and Europe. He was exposed as a police officer in October 2010 by activists. His undisclosed involvement in an action against Ratcliffe Power Station led to a trial collapsing. He had several sexual relationships, some long-term. His exposure led to several other undercover officers being exposed and the wider 'spycops' issue becoming public.

Afterward, HASC issued a damning interim report. It was critical of the governance and training structures around undercover policing. It also stated:

We do not believe that officers should enter into intimate, physical sexual relationships while using their false identities undercover without clear, prior authorisation, which should only be given in the most exceptional circumstances. In particular, it is unacceptable that a child should be brought into the world as a result of such a relationship and this must never be allowed to happen again. We recommend that future guidance on undercover operations should make this clear beyond doubt.

…

The practice of "resurrecting" dead children as cover identities for undercover police officers was not only ghoulish and disrespectful, it could potentially have placed bereaved families in real danger of retaliation. The families who have been affected by this deserve an explanation and a full and unambiguous apology from the forces concerned. We would also welcome a clear statement from the Home Secretary that this practice will never be followed in future. Home Affairs Committee - Undercover Policing: Interim Report (Thirteenth Report of Session 2012-2013), Parliament.UK, 26 Feb 2013.

This helped apply pressure leading to the creation of the Undercover Policing Inquiry.

In 2022, the issue of the Inquiry was again raised before the Committee, when the Permanent Secretary of the Home Office, Matthew Rycoft, was questioned about the Inquiry's growing costs and delays. He told MPs that the Home Office was concerned about the cost and length of the Inquiry and mentioned that it could close the Inquiry down. See under Home Office (procedural) for more details, including a transcript of the exchange.