Committee publication · Correspondence · 1 July 2026

Letter to the Minister for Border Security and Asylum relating to the Family returns consultation 27.06.2026

Summary

The Home Affairs Committee writes to the Minister for Border Security and Asylum regarding concerns about the Home Office's family returns consultation. The committee raises issues about non-standard publication practices, inadequate local authority engagement, insufficient impact data, and lack of transparency—particularly regarding implications for children's safeguarding and local authority costs.

Key findings

The consultation was not published on gov.uk or directly shared with local authorities, departing from Cabinet Office consultation principles
The consultation document provides extremely limited information about the number of people affected, hindering informed stakeholder responses
Local authorities with children's social care responsibilities were not adequately engaged despite direct implications for child safeguarding and service pressures
Impact assessments had not been fully conducted at the time the consultation was launched
Committee seeks confirmation that the government response will be published in full on gov.uk

Tone

Critical

Topics

asylum-and-immigrationsafeguardinglocal-governmentpublic-consultation

Key actors

Alex Norris, Rt Hon Dame Karen Bradley MP, Home Office, Home Affairs Committee, Local authorities, Cabinet Office

Notable line

“It is essential that local authorities, particularly those with children's social care responsibilities, are adequately engaged in the development of these policies given the implications for children's safeguarding and the potential additional …”

Key Quotes

“It is our understanding that the consultation was not published on gov.uk or shared directly with local authorities.”
— Rt Hon Dame Karen Bradley MP · Opening concern about consultation process

“It is essential that local authorities, particularly those with children's social care responsibilities, are adequately engaged in the development of these policies given the implications for children's safeguarding and the potential additional costs to local authorities.”
— Rt Hon Dame Karen Bradley MP · Core rationale for letter

“The consultation document also provides extremely limited information about the number of people who may be affected by these changes …”
— Rt Hon Dame Karen Bradley MP · Critique of consultation transparency

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Source · parliament.uk record ↗