Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether it remains his Department's policy to end the criminalisation of rough sleeping.

Nobody should be criminalised for simply having nowhere to live. That is why we are committed to bringing into force the repeal of the outdated Vagrancy Act 1824.

We have tabled amendments for Report stage of the Bill which will bring the Repeal of the Vagrancy Act into force three months after the Criminal Justice Bill receives Royal Assent.

At this same time, the provisions on nuisance begging and nuisance rough sleeping in the Criminal Justice Bill will also come into force.