§ Mr. FearnTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will consider seeking to amend the sections of the Vagrancy Act 1824 under which young persons sleeping on the streets have been arrested and convicted.
§ Mr. WaddingtonThe Vagrancy Act 1824 has already been amended, in particular by the Vagrancy Act 1935 and the Criminal Justice Act 1982, so that no one can be convicted for sleeping rough unless it can be proved that he had first refused or failed to apply for free and reasonably accessible accommodation to which he had been directed, or it can be proved that his doing so causes harm. Sleeping rough is not now either an arrestable or imprisonable offence. It is extremely rare for anyone under the age of 18 to be prosecuted for this offence.
We have no present plans to amend the vagrancy laws.