'MANY OF MY CONSTITUENTS FEEL INTIMIDATED BY BEGGARS OUTSIDE SHOPS'
ON Saturday of last week, Cleethorpes MP Martin Vickers (pictured) went walkabout on the streets of the resort to ascertain the extent of begging - particular on the main shopping street, St Peter's Avenue. Yesterday he reported on his findings at a parliamentary hearing. Below, courtesy of Hansard, is both his speech and the response of the minister, Heather Wheeler.
I
beg to move,
That
this House has considered vagrancy and homelessness in Cleethorpes.
I welcome the new
Minister to her place, as this is the first debate to which she has responded.
We expect great things from her.
There
is a growing problem of vagrancy in Grimsby and
Cleethorpes.
In
my constituency, the main hotspot is Cleethorpes town centre, particularly
around St Peter’s Avenue, the High Street and in the marketplace.
Its
shops and vibrant night time economy make it a natural attraction for people
who, unfortunately, have to go begging.
That
continues through the day and into the evening.
Although
I seek to address both sides of this complex matter, on this occasion my focus
is on vagrancy and begging, as it is clear from what residents and traders have
expressed to me and to the local media that they are extremely concerned.
Whatever
reason people have for resorting to begging, in almost every case it is
extremely complex. Their circumstances are often driven by drug and alcohol
addiction.
As
a compassionate society, we want to do all we can, but we also owe it to
business people to address the issue - on many occasions, traders in
Cleethorpes have put their life savings and many years’ work into establishing
and maintaining their businesses.
Last
Saturday morning, I spent some time speaking to several traders on St Peter’s
Avenue where the worst of the problem manifests itself.
They made it clear that
they consider the presence of beggars on the street bad for business.
Begging
is a complex issue that is not unique to North East Lincolnshire - it is a
national issue.
Caring
and unsuspecting members of the public can often be lured into unwittingly
giving money with the best of intentions, but without knowledge of the
consequences.
At
a recent community meeting in Cleethorpes, chaired by the ward councillor,
residents and traders complained about vagrancy and expressed a range of
concerns to representatives from the local council, Humberside police and Harbour
Place, which is a local outreach charity.
Dave
Carlisle from Harbour Place began the
meeting by highlighting that 50 people are sleeping on the streets of North East
Lincolnshire.
Sadly,
that is roughly double the number of only a year ago. It is clearly something
that needs attention and we must do all we can to tackle the underlying
problems.
Though
linked, the issue of homelessness is separate to that of vagrancy. I have been
reassured by the steps that the Government have taken to eliminate
homelessness.
Last year, the Government supported the
introduction of the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 by my hon. Friend the
Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman), which will provide vital support and is
backed up by additional funding for local authorities to cover the costs of
their new responsibilities.
The
Government have committed to halve rough sleeping over the course of this
Parliament and to eliminate it by 2027.
The
new homelessness reduction taskforce will do vital work to realise that
ambition.
In the autumn Budget, the
Chancellor announced £28-million for three Housing First pilots in Manchester, Liverpool and the West Midlands to support
rough sleepers and turn their lives around.
I
hope that that can be rolled out across the country soon.
Although
the problem is at its worst in our major cities, I appeal to the Government to
recognise that the local economies of smaller towns could be badly affected if
the issue is not addressed.
In
the areas I have mentioned, there is a serious problem of what the local
council refers to as “active beggars” - people who are not homeless but who use
begging as a way of making money.
One
of the main concerns expressed at the recent community meeting in Cleethorpes
was that residents simply do not know who is homeless and who is not.
A
report by North East Lincolnshire Council to its communities scrutiny panel in
December stated: “There are approximately 16 active beggars currently known to
agencies in North East Lincolnshire.
The local beggars who frequent our public
spaces do have complex needs which are predominantly around drug addiction.
The vast majority have access to
accommodation and are not deemed to be homeless. They have refused to engage
with the services and it is evident that they continue to beg in order to
obtain money which in most cases will be used to fund their drug addiction.”
According
to Thames Reach, in 80 per cent of cases, money given pays for a drug or
alcohol addiction and the person begging is not actually homeless. Humberside
police advised my constituents,“to
not give them anything directly, and if you want to donate to those less
fortunate please do so through reputable sources like Harbour
Place and other charities - we understand
that the issue needs to be addressed, and our officers have been out and about
everyday, with plans to further increase patrols.”
The
beggars identified would not engage with the support agencies, so enforcement
has been difficult.
In
the first instance, support is offered to individuals.
If
enforcement is necessary, it takes the form of community protection warnings
and community protection notices, which are issued for unreasonable behaviour
and the detrimental effect it has on the area.
So
far 15 warnings have been used by the council, of which seven have progressed
to notices.
The
“Think Before You Give” campaign has been launched.
Careful
joint communications have been developed due to the sensitive nature of the
subject and the perception of the general public and the media that the beggars
are homeless, vulnerable and in need of financial help.
As
the authorities continue to curb begging on our streets, the council will keep
pushing the campaign and urges local businesses to get behind it.
Both
residents and businesses feel intimidated, on some occasions, by the presence
of beggars.
Local
traders feel that their businesses are being affected, particularly when
beggars camp outside their premises and ask for money from potential customers.
Local traders want the police to move them on more quickly.
Recently,
a court heard about elderly people who took pity on a woman after she started
begging on St Peter’s Avenue.
Her
efforts to make money did not go down well with the Cooplands bakery because of
fears that trade would suffer.
The
police were alerted because the assistant manager felt that the woman would
have a detrimental effect on trade by sitting there.
A
lot of elderly customers were willing to put money in the cup and, therefore,
to act in a way that was not necessarily in the woman’s
best interests.
She
has breached her bail condition not to go on to St Peter’s Avenue and is
repeatedly to be seen in the area.
There
is almost always a beggar sitting next to the cash machine outside the
Sainsbury’s Local in the avenue, which many constituents find intimidating.
Action
is being taken. A fact-finding exercise was carried out early last year,
followed by a multi-agency meeting that aimed to identify the genuinely
homeless and those who require support, and to distinguish them from so-called
active beggars who are not homeless.
The
initiative was supported by a range of agencies, including the Department for
Work and Pensions, the council’s strategic housing home options team and
anti-social behaviour team, the police and Harbour
Place.
That
enabled work to focus on a specified number of known individuals, with the
emphasis on initial support and engagement, followed by a scaled approach to
enforcement that utilised the community protection warning or notice approach.
There
is concern, however, that a recent crackdown in the neighbouring town of Grimsby has pushed
the problem on to Cleethorpes.
This
problem has been particularly prominent since the police’s Operation Hercules,
which was aimed at ending the blight of anti-social behaviour and crime.
The
operation was important work that involved 18 police officers and 12 police
community support officers, as well as traffic officers and licensing
officials, but it was rather Grimsby-focused.
Although
Grimsby and
Cleethorpes are in effect the same town, such an approach tends to move the
problem rather than getting to grips with it.
Throughout
December, the most prominent locations where vagrants gather in Cleethorpes
were patrolled daily by police, with a permanent presence during normal working
hours.
That
presence was welcome, but the strain on resources meant that it could not go on
indefinitely.
There
is a range of organisations that people in need can reach out to for access to
help, including the council’s home options team, which will investigate cases
of homelessness.
The
council has a statutory duty to provide temporary accommodation to anyone who
presents as homeless, eligible for services and in priority need.
Wider
support can also be offered, such as debt advice via specialist money advisers.
Harbour Place, the charity I mentioned, has been commissioned by the council to
provide an outreach service to offer assistance and provide shower facilities,
additional clothing and hot meals. St Peter’s church on St Peter’s Avenue is
also actively involved.
The
people whom unfortunately we see on the streets obviously have complex needs,
but it is important to note that the council, police and local charities are
working closely to find solutions.
They
should be reassured by the support that the Government have offered by implementing
measures to provide local authorities with greater powers and resources to
eliminate homelessness and vagrancy.
My
aim in securing this debate was to urge the Government to consider whether
further legislation is required for local authorities, police and all the
agencies- whether statutory or charitable - to provide a fully co-ordinated
approach to the issue.
I
acknowledge that, following the 2015 spending review, the Government are
spending more than £550-million to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping in England by 2020.
The
largest proportion of that spending comes in the form of
the £315-million homelessness prevention fund, which goes directly to local
authorities.
Those
who have information about someone begging should draw that person’s attention
to the proper authorities which will be able to point them towards the help
they need.
Ultimately,
handing over money is not helpful to the individual in question; it is far
better to donate to homelessness charities such as Harbour
Place, which are well placed to provide
specific assistance.
I
recognise that Section 3 of the Vagrancy Act 1824 is written in rather
Dickensian language, but it enables the police to arrest and charge anyone who
is begging.
The
Highways Act 1980 states: “If a person…wilfully obstructs the free passage
along a highway he is guilty of an offence”.
Section
5 of the Public Order Act 1986 also has provisions that can be useful.
I
have mentioned community protection warnings and notices, which are more about
unreasonable behaviour and its detrimental local effect than about gathering
evidence to prove an offence beyond reasonable doubt, resulting in a fine
imposed by a court.
This
could be an early success for the Minister.
Whatever
the solution is, I urge her to instruct her officials to speak to North East
Lincolnshire Council, Humberside police and others to see whether they are
content with the legislative regime, whether it could be made more pro-active
and whether further powers may be needed.
Quite
reasonably, the residents and business community in Cleethorpes are concerned
about the matter.
People in business have devoted their life’s work to setting
up small shops and the like, and we urgently need to do something to help them.
Under-Secretary for Housing, Communities and Local Goverrnment, Heather Wheeler
I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Cleethorpes (Martin Vickers) on
securing this important debate.
This is my first opportunity to reply as a
Minister; I am delighted that it is to such an old friend of mine.
Let
me start with the issue of begging and associated anti-social behaviours.
As
all hon. Members will be aware, begging is an offence under the Vagrancy Act
1824, and enforcement decisions are a matter for chief constables and for
police and crime commissioners.
To support local authorities and police in making such orders under the Act, the Government have recently published updated guidance on their use and particularly on their application to vulnerable groups.
To support local authorities and police in making such orders under the Act, the Government have recently published updated guidance on their use and particularly on their application to vulnerable groups.
It is very important that those powers are
applied at a local level to meet local circumstances, in order to ensure that
authorities can provide a targeted approach to tackle the issues they face in
their areas, such as those that my hon. Friend outlined.
As
hon. Members will appreciate, there are many reasons why people beg.
To
tackle the issue effectively, it is important that local authorities apply
appropriate interventions that seek to address the underlying causes.
To
achieve that, as my hon. Friend said, it is very important that agencies across the communities come
together, including police, local authorities and support services.
I
am absolutely delighted to hear of the work of Harbour Place, which sounds like
a very interesting charity.
I
understand that there are a number of positive examples of well established
multi-agency teams working with other local public and voluntary sector
services to ensure that appropriate support and intervention is put in place to
prevent anti-social behaviour in the long term.
Where
people are sleeping rough, it is vital that they receive the support they need
so that they are able to move away from damaging street lifestyles and into
accommodation.
As
my hon. Friend set out, the Government are taking a number of important actions
to meet our objectives of halving rough sleeping by 2022 and eliminating it
altogether by 2027.
To achieve those objectives, we have embarked
on an ambitious programme to reform our response that places prevention right
at its heart.
I
am delighted that, thanks to my hon. Friend the Member for Harrow East (Bob
Blackman) and colleagues across Government, the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017
- the most ambitious legislative reform in decades -will be implemented in
April.
It will fundamentally transform the culture of homelessness service
delivery and ensure that local authorities, public bodies and the third sector
work together to actively prevent homelessness for all those at risk,
irrespective of priority need, intentional homelessness or local connection.
It will also require local authorities to work
with those in need to develop personalised housing plans tailored to focus on
the needs and circumstances of the individual.
Those can include actions for
other support services that are best suited to assist the individual.
Local
authorities are clearly best placed to make decisions about how to meet the
unique needs and requirements of their residents.
Homelessness
is a complex issue and each area is different, so it is right that local
authorities have the tools and flexibilities to develop a tailored and holistic
solution that works for their communities.
By
placing duties on local authorities to intervene at earlier stages to prevent
homelessness in their areas, the 2017 Act will ensure that more people will get
the help they need before they face a homelessness crisis.
To
ensure that local authorities have the requisite resource in place to deliver
the new duties under the Act successfully, we will provide them with an
additional £72.7-million in “new burdens” funding, and I sincerely hope that my
hon. Friend makes sure that North East Lincolnshire Council applies for an
appropriate amount from that fund.
To
support local authorities even further, we have established a homelessness
advice and support team, drawn from those with expertise on this issue within
local authorities and the homelessness sector.
These
advisers have been providing targeted challenge and support to help local
authorities to prepare for the 2017 Act, and to improve their practice and
performance, where appropriate, across all areas of homelessness work.
So
far, representatives from over 250 of England’s 326 local housing authorities
have attended homelessness advice and support team events, and met the team.
We
have allocated more than £1 billion to prevent and reduce homelessness and rough
sleeping through to 2020.
That
funding will assist people to get the help they need and prevent homelessness
and rough sleeping from happening
in the first place.
As
part of this package, we have protected £315 million of core funding to local
authorities to prevent homelessness.
We
have also provided local authorities with £402-million in flexible homelessness
support grant funding, which local authorities can use to prevent and tackle
homelessness in their area strategically.
That
funding sits alongside our wider funding on homelessness prevention of £197-
million, and specifically our homelessness prevention programme, which includes
a £20- million rough sleeping fund.
That
fund is supporting 48 projects to prevent or reduce rough sleeping in
innovative ways, by strengthening and building partnerships with agencies that
play a crucial role in helping those who are at risk of sleeping rough, or
already sleeping rough, to exit homelessness.
With
more up-front funding, local authorities will be able to tackle homelessness
more proactively, pushing the balance of investment in the future away from
crisis intervention and towards prevention.
In
the autumn Budget, we made important announcements that will take us even
further in achieving our objectives.
We
announced £28-million of funding to pilot a Housing First approach in three
major regions in England.
Those
pilots will support some of the most entrenched rough sleepers to get off our
streets and help them to end their homelessness.
Individuals
will be provided with stable, affordable accommodation and intensive,
wrap-around support.
That
will help them to recover from complex health issues and to sustain their
tenancies.
Following
completion of the pilots, the impact of the approach will be measured by a
rigorous evaluation, which will inform our wider roll-out.
Again,
if the situation in St Peter’s Avenue in Cleethorpes should continue, I
sincerely hope that North East Lincolnshire Council can be encouraged to join
in this work after the pilots have finished.
We
also know that a challenge for those who are homeless is to access tenancies in
the private sector.
That
is why we announced funding of £20-million for schemes that will enable better
access to new private rented sector tenancies or provide support in sustaining
tenancies for those who are already homeless or sleeping rough, or at risk of
becoming homeless or sleeping rough.
Hon.
Members will be aware that tackling homelessness and rough sleeping is a
complex challenge.
My
hon. Friend really gave us the nuts and bolts about that challenge.
He
has obviously gone into it incredibly deeply in his constituency and his
constituents should be very grateful for the amount of time and effort that he
has put into this issue, and I am sure that the traders on St Peter’s Avenue
will be very grateful to him, too.
Homelessness
is a complex challenge and we must adopt a truly holistic approach if we are to
achieve our objectives of reducing homelessness and rough sleeping.
It
is for this reason we have established a rough sleeping and homelessness
reduction taskforce, which will oversee the implementation of a
cross-Government strategy and drive wider action to reduce homelessness and
rough sleeping.
The
taskforce will bring together Ministers from key Departments with a role in
preventing and reducing rough sleeping and homelessness, to establish a fully
cross-Government approach to these issues in England.
The
remit of the taskforce will be, first, to develop a cross-Government strategy
to help rough sleepers, many of whom are entrenched and have complex needs.
However,
the taskforce will also focus on the
wider issues of homelessness prevention and affordable housing.
In
order to help the taskforce to deliver its objectives, we have put in place a
rough sleeping advisory panel, which I will chair and which will be comprised
of key figures from local government, central Government and homelessness
charities.
I
know that everyone here today will share my firm commitment to reduce
homelessness and eliminate rough sleeping.
Local
authorities and the police are equipped with a range of powers to deal with the
issues of begging and the anti-social behaviours that can be associated with it
that they experience in their areas, and I encourage multi-agency working to
tackle this problem, in particular in my hon. Friend’s constituency of
Cleethorpes.
If
the police in Cleethorpes want to come and talk to us about any more
legislation that they think is appropriate, I sincerely hope that, once the
pilots that I mentioned are finished, they will consider that these matters are
in hand.
Nevertheless,
our door is always open.
Once
again, I thank my hon. Friend for securing this debate and Ms Ryan for chairing
it. It has given me the opportunity to set out the Government’s approach to
tackling these important issues.
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