Written Question·Home Office·UIN 182470
Sleeping Rough: Arrests
Tabled: 24 April 2023
Answered: 2 May 2023
Named DayQuestion
Paula Barker
Labour — Liverpool Wavertree
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for his Department's policies of reports that 1,173 people have been arrested in England and Wales since 2021 under the Vagrancy Act 1824.
Answer
Chris PhilpThe Home Office does not collect data on the number of people arrested under the Vagrancy Act.The Government is fully committed to repealing and replacing the antiquated Vagrancy Act which makes begging and some forms of rough sleeping a criminal offence.