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<p>The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities lead on homelessness and
rough sleeping and as such have regular meetings with stakeholders. They reviewed
the Vagrancy Act and determined replacement legislation was needed. They published
the response to their public consultation on replacement in 2023.</p><p>The Home Office
has additionally engaged with police, local authorities, PCCs and other organisations
including the homelessness sector on this topic. This has highlighted that more direct
tools were needed to respond to begging and rough sleeping where it causes nuisance
to others.</p><p>These provisions will be supported by guidance highlighting that
local authority outreach and engagement remain at the heart of our approach here and
that these civil tools support a staggered approach to enforcement where that is necessary.</p><p>I
and my Rt Hon friend the Home Secretary have ongoing discussions with Ministerial
colleagues, including in the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities,
about the provisions in the Criminal Justice Bill, including those relating to tackling
nuisance rough sleeping.</p><p>Equality and Economic impact assessments for the Bill
have been published and are available at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/criminal-justice-bill-2023-impact-assessments"
target="_blank">Criminal Justice Bill 2023: impact assessments - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)</a></p>
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