The Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) is a select committee of the House of Lords and the House of Commons, appointed by both Houses "to consider matters relating to human rights in the United Kingdom (but excluding consideration of individual cases)" and proposals for remedial orders, draft remedial orders and remedial orders under the Human Rights Act 1998. Its chair in the 2026–27 session is Alex Sobel MP. In September 2026 it published Human Rights and the Regulation of AI, a report calling for a dedicated UK AI Bill and a single statutory AI regulator (Human Rights and the Regulation of AI (Joint Committee on Human Rights, HC 160, September 2026)).
| Type | Joint select committee of the UK Parliament (House of Lords and House of Commons) |
| Remit | Human rights in the UK (excluding individual cases); remedial orders |
| Size | Up to six members from each House; quorum of two from each House |
| Chair | Alex Sobel MP (Labour, Leeds Central and Headingley) |
| Powers | To require written evidence and documents, examine witnesses, appoint specialist advisers and report to both Houses |
| Website | committees.parliament.uk/committee/93 |
Membership
The committee's September 2026 report lists twelve members (Human Rights and the Regulation of AI (Joint Committee on Human Rights, HC 160, September 2026)):
| House of Lords | House of Commons |
|---|---|
| Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench) | Alex Sobel (Labour, Leeds Central and Headingley), Chair |
| Baroness Chakrabarti (Labour) | Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat, Harrogate and Knaresborough) |
| Baroness Hamwee (Liberal Democrat) | Afzal Khan (Labour, Manchester Rusholme) |
| Lord Murray of Blidworth (Conservative) | Euan Stainbank (Labour, Falkirk) |
| Lord Rook (Labour) | Peter Swallow (Labour, Bracknell) |
| Lord Sewell of Sanderstead (Conservative) | Sir Desmond Swayne (Conservative, New Forest West) |
The Lords committee has power to agree with the Commons in the appointment of a chair. At the meeting of 9 September 2026 that agreed the AI report, Lord Alton of Liverpool took the Chair, and the committee ordered that the Chair make the report to the House of Lords and Alex Sobel make it to the House of Commons.
Activities
The committee's work in the 2024–26 and 2026–27 sessions consists mainly of legislative scrutiny and thematic inquiries. Reports listed in the AI report include legislative scrutiny of the Crime and Policing Bill, the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, the Mental Health Bill and the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill; reports on transnational repression in the UK, forced labour in UK supply chains, accountability for Daesh crimes and the human rights of children in the social care system in England; and several reports on remedial orders under the Human Rights Act 1998 (Human Rights and the Regulation of AI (Joint Committee on Human Rights, HC 160, September 2026)).
Inquiry into human rights and the regulation of AI
The committee launched an inquiry in July 2025 into whether existing UK law and regulation adequately protect human rights from AI. It received over 70 written submissions and took oral evidence in ten sessions between 2 July 2025 and 25 February 2026 from academics, civil-society groups, lawyers, technology firms (Google, Meta and Microsoft), the regulators Ofcom, the ICO and the EHRC, and the then Minister for AI, Kanishka Narayan MP. Its special adviser was Professor Karen Yeung of the University of Birmingham.
The resulting Fourth Report of Session 2026–27 (HC 160 / HL Paper 56), published 14 September 2026, makes 59 conclusions and recommendations. It finds that UK law reaches AI mainly at deployment, that no regulator has systematic power to test or block AI systems, and that the AI Security Institute has no statutory power. It recommends a new, risk-based AI Bill "as promised in the 2024 King's Speech" giving full effect to the Council of Europe Framework Convention; prohibitions on uses incompatible with human rights, which it states would extend to "the development and provision of very powerful AI systems (such as Artificial General Intelligence and Artificial Superintelligence)" risking widespread and very serious harm; prior approval for high-risk systems; supply-chain due diligence and mandatory transparency; stronger UK GDPR safeguards on automated decision-making; an independent statutory AI oversight body with testing, market-withdrawal and sanction powers; and a statutory AISI to which developers must submit powerful new models. The Government has two months to respond (Human Rights and the Regulation of AI (Joint Committee on Human Rights, HC 160, September 2026)).
Positions
The committee's stated position is that "Human rights principles must inform all aspects of the government's policies and practices relating to AI systems" (Recommendation 10) and that the AI Opportunities Action Plan adopted by the previous administration "fails to pay sufficient attention to the need to secure the protection of human rights" (Conclusion 12). It states that regulation should be proportionate and that legislation "should not place unjustified burdens on businesses, especially SMEs" (Conclusion 38). Its chair said on publication that "[n]owhere in the world, including the UK, has a current legislative and regulatory approach to AI that is fit for purpose" (Source: committees.parliament.uk).
Five of the twelve members named in the report — Sobel, Afzal Khan, Euan Stainbank, Sir Desmond Swayne and Lord Alton of Liverpool — signed the 11 September 2026 cross-party letter urging the Prime Minister to adopt the framework of the Artificial Superintelligence Bill (Letter from 71 UK parliamentarians to Prime Minister Andy Burnham on superintelligent AI (11 September 2026)). The letter is an individual act by its signatories, not a committee output.
Relationships
- related: Human Rights and the Regulation of AI (Joint Committee on Human Rights, HC 160, September 2026) — its September 2026 report on AI
- related: Alex Sobel — chair
- related: UK AI Safety Institute (AI Security Institute) — recommended a statutory basis and mandatory pre-release model submission
- related: Council of Europe Framework Convention on AI and Human Rights, Democracy, and the Rule of Law — urged a ratification timeline and full domestic effect
- related: UK AI Bill — Status and Delay (Source Summary) — the AI Bill it asked the Government to introduce
- related: Kanishka Narayan, UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), Ofcom (Office of Communications), Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) — Government and regulator witnesses
- related: UK Artificial Superintelligence Bill (ControlAI draft, May 28, 2026; introduced September 8, 2026), Letter from 71 UK parliamentarians to Prime Minister Andy Burnham on superintelligent AI (11 September 2026)
- related: House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party — a legislative committee with an AI-policy role in another jurisdiction