Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has had recent discussions with organisations that support people experiencing homelessness on the Criminal Justice Bill.

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities lead on homelessness and rough sleeping and as such have regular meetings with stakeholders. They reviewed the Vagrancy Act and determined replacement legislation was needed. They published the response to their public consultation on replacement in 2023.

The Home Office has additionally engaged with police, local authorities, PCCs and other organisations including the homelessness sector on this topic. This has highlighted that more direct tools were needed to respond to begging and rough sleeping where it causes nuisance to others.

These provisions will be supported by guidance highlighting that local authority outreach and engagement remain at the heart of our approach here and that these civil tools support a staggered approach to enforcement where that is necessary.

I and my Rt Hon friend the Home Secretary have ongoing discussions with Ministerial colleagues, including in the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, about the provisions in the Criminal Justice Bill, including those relating to tackling nuisance rough sleeping.

Equality and Economic impact assessments for the Bill have been published and are available at: Criminal Justice Bill 2023: impact assessments - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)