Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answers of 4 July 2025 to Questions 62600 and 62603 on Nuisance, what her policy is on (a) whether nuisance begging is an offence and (b) giving powers to (i) police and (ii) local authorities to issue prevention orders relating to nuisance (A) begging and (B) rough sleeping.

On 10th June, the Government announced its intention to repeal the outdated Vagrancy Act 1824. The Government has been clear that no one should be criminalised simply for having nowhere to live.

We have introduced targeted replacement measures in the Crime and Policing Bill to ensure police have the powers they need to keep communities safe, including a new criminal offence of facilitating begging for gain, and an offence of trespassing with the intention of committing a crime, both of which were previously provided for under the 1824 Act.

We know police forces make effective use of existing powers to tackle anti-social behaviour that occurs in this context, and we will update statutory guidance on the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 to provide more certainty on how existing powers can be applied to anti-social behaviour where it occurs in the context of begging that is causing problems for local communities.