Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure non-UK nationals who are experiencing rough sleeping will not face deportation.
The new Immigration Rules make provision for the refusal or cancellation of permission to stay in the UK on the basis of rough sleeping. The new rule will apply on a discretionary basis to non-EEA citizens from 1 December 2020 and to newly arriving EEA citizens from 1 January 2021. The provision will be used sparingly and only where individuals have repeatedly refused support offers such as accommodation and are engaged in persistent anti-social behaviour.
A person is expected to leave the UK if their leave is cancelled or refused. If they do not choose to leave voluntarily we may enforce their removal. They will not be subject to deportation action which is reserved for foreign national offenders with serious and persistent criminality as well as for reasons of national security.