Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will reverse the current plans for rough sleeping to become grounds for refusal or cancellation of permission to be in the UK; and if she will make a statement.

The Secretary of State has no plans to reverse the Immigration Rule which makes provision for the discretionary refusal or cancellation of permission to stay in the UK on the grounds of rough sleeping. It will be used sparingly and only as a last resort where a person sleeping rough refuses offers of support and engages 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 the Home Office 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.

The new rule is not intended to criminalise rough sleeping or penalise those who inadvertently find themselves without a roof over their head for a short period of time.