Vagrancy Act 1824

Nickie Aiken Excerpts

Tuesday 13th April 2021 Westminster Hall

[Nickie Aiken (Cities of London and Westminster) (Con)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered repealing and replacing the Vagrancy Act 1824.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Charles. I am delighted to have secured this extremely important debate on repealing and replacing the Vagrancy Act 1824, and I thank hon. Members present for putting in to speak. I know from my mailbag that constituents, businesses and visitors to the Cities of London and Westminster are concerned about rough sleepers and share my desire—and that of the Government—to end rough sleeping for good.

As the title suggests, this debate is not just about repealing the Vagrancy Act, but to consider what should replace it to respond to the 21st-century reasons people find themselves on the street. I believe that the Government share my wish to see the Act repealed following the response from my right hon. Friend the Communities Secretary to my recent question in the House, where he confirmed his belief that the Act,

“should be consigned to history.” [Official Report, 25 February 2021; Vol. 689, c. 1138.]

The Vagrancy Act 1824 is an antiquated piece of legislation originally introduced to deal with soldiers returning from the Napoleonic wars. With no public services available, many ended up on the streets begging and sleeping rough. It is now used by police and councils to tackle the small minority of rough sleepers involved in persistent antisocial behaviour.

Similarly, powers under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, including public space protection orders and criminal behaviour orders, are increasingly used. Yes, we must challenge anyone involved in antisocial behaviour, but rather than criminalising a rough sleeper, I truly believe that the better outcome for both the individual and society is to address the reasons they are on the street in the first place, and provide the help and support they obviously need.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I congratulate the hon. Member for Cities of London and Westminster (Nickie Aiken) on bringing this debate to Westminster Hall. Does the hon. Lady agree that, with over 50 housing and homelessness organisations supporting scrapping the Vagrancy Act 1824, the Minister and the Government must consider alternatives? They must acknowledge that many of these charities work with people experiencing homelessness directly, and that they see how it presently fails to end rough sleeping, instead pushing people into worse positions, and their circumstances must be respected and considered. The Government cannot ignore 50 housing and charitable organisations.

[Nickie Aiken]

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. I do not know a charity involved in rough sleeping and homelessness that does not agree that the Vagrancy Act should be repealed.

If we get this right, it will end the revolving door that too many rough sleepers currently experience, whereby they accept outreach help and are placed in accommodation, but too often find themselves back on the street because their underlying mental health issues or addictions have not been tackled. Even on the coldest day of the year and during adverse weather conditions brought on by the likes of the “beast from the east”, a considerable number of people chose to ignore the no-questions-asked help of a hot meal and a roof over their head, whether from a local authority, a church, a community centre or a mosque. They are so fearful, mistrusting or mentally unwell that they prefer to remain outside in below-zero temperatures, where they feel safest.

There are more than 400 beds available on any given night in Westminster alone for rough sleepers. However, we must not just offer a bed. The accommodation available rarely comes with the vital health services required to help turn a person’s life around and address often years—sometimes decades—of abuse, poor mental health and addiction. But there is a clear solution: replace the Vagrancy Act with a new approach that places the preservation of life at its core through assertive outreach, alongside social care and specialist medical support, all attached to the safety of a bed. We need addiction counsellors, psychiatric help and medical support for those who have suffered years of sleeping rough.

The Government’s Everyone In strategy, in response to the covid-19 pandemic, saw an incredible 90% of rough sleepers accept accommodation, demonstrating that when central and local government work together, we can achieve impressive results, but what about the other 10%? Throughout the first lockdown, about 100 people in Westminster refused all help and remained on the street. I saw many of them myself. They were clearly very ill, with serious addiction and mental health problems.

Having witnessed what I have, and having spoken to former rough sleepers, outreach workers and other experts, I know that it is clear that if we are to end rough sleeping for good, a fundamental shake-up of mental health services is required. Charities including The Passage, Crisis and St Mungo’s have highlighted that outreach workers today find it near impossible to secure mental health assessments for rough sleepers. Even when one has been secured, often the vital missing piece of the jigsaw is a specialist bed for that person.

People on the street with the most complex needs often lack the mental health capacity to make decisions for their own wellbeing or accept help from others. At present, a rough sleeper’s mental state has to become so acute that he or she is self-harming or at risk of doing so for the police to take emergency action, and only then might they have a mental health assessment. By that stage, it is far too late, which is why we need an assertive outreach approach. We need outreach workers working in partnership with specialist homelessness mental health teams that can undertake mental health assessments under the Mental Health Act 1983, as well as other types of assessments on the street, with rapid access to specialist bed spaces. We then need the health services required attached to the bed that the rough sleeper is referred to. I would welcome it if the Minister can address that point and consider reintroducing street-based mental health services.

Of course, none of that can happen without the backing of long-term sustainable funding. I again ask the Government to give due consideration to extending the time period of funding allocations for such service to at least three years, preferably five, rather than the current annual basis.

As we slowly and carefully begin our journey out of the pandemic, much is in flux. However, we now have a golden opportunity to build upon Everyone In, to learn from that initiative and to reshape our response, so that we have the services we need to achieve our shared goal of ending rough sleeping. The Government, I believe, are willing and able to end rough sleeping. Repealing and replacing the Vagrancy Act, longer-term funding attached to mental health services and accommodation and re-establishing street-based mental health services will do just that. I look forward to the contributions of other Members and to the Minister’s response.

[Sir Charles Walker (in the Chair)]

Back-Bench colleagues have around nine minutes each.

--- Later in debate ---

[Nickie Aiken]

I thank everyone who has taken part in this important debate and the Minister for his response. It is clear from what we have heard from Members across the political spectrum that we are all of one belief: that the Vagrancy Act is no longer fit for purpose to deal with any issues surrounding rough sleeping in the 21st century. If we are ever to ensure that the Government meet their welcome ambition of ending rough sleeping for good, one of the first things they need to address is the Vagrancy Act, as well as long-term funding. Local authorities and charities cannot be expected to put in place the services required to support more rough sleepers off the streets without longer-term funding. It is just not possible.

The Minister made some very good points about the Mental Capacity Act 2005, but the problem is that we do not have sufficient capacity in homelessness mental health teams to go out on to our streets. Therefore, we need more funding, and more long-term funding, so that local authorities can put that in place. I honestly do not believe that it is a police officer’s job to have to move rough sleepers off the streets. I want police officers to be going after the bad guys, preventing crime before it starts and taking action against those involved in crime, not moving on rough sleepers. Therefore, I ask the Minister to ensure that the Home Office, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government work together now. There is a brilliant opportunity, a golden opportunity, now, as we come out of the pandemic, for the three Departments to work together, with the cross-party support of hon. Members and charities in the rough sleeping sector, to ensure that we can repeal the Vagrancy Act and replace it with what is required in the 21st century.

I will end by mirroring what my hon. Friend the Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman) said. We have to move away from arresting rough sleepers to assisting them. They are the most vulnerable, damaged people in our society, and they need and deserve better. And the first way to do that is to scrap the Act.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this House has considered repealing and replacing the Vagrancy Act 1824.