Scotland and Ireland, and suppressed brothels. Current status The original Vagrancy Act 1824 remains in force in England and Wales until a replacement Act is created. In 1982 the entire Act was repealed in Scotland by the Civic Government (Scotland) Act. An attempt was made in 1981 to repeal Section 4 (and so, in effect, decriminalise begging and homelessness) in England and Wales, but the bill (the Vagrancy Offences (Repeal) Bill) did not progress beyond first reading. In Ireland, Section 18 of the Firearms and Offensive Weapons Act 1990 repealed section 4 of the 1824 Act (begging and vagrancy). Under the Act discharged military personnel continue to be granted exemption certificates allowing them to appeal for alms under certain circumstances. Modern use In 1988 some 573 people were prosecuted and convicted under the Act in England and Wales, rising to 1,396 by 1989. In May 1990 the National Association of Probation Officers carried out a survey of prosecutions under the Act. That survey revealed that 1,250 prosecutions had been dealt with in 14 magistrates courts in Central London in 1988, which represented an enormous leap in the number of prosecutions under the Act, especially in London. In 2014 three men were arrested and charged under Section 4 of the 1824 Vagrancy Act for stealing food that had been put in skips and bins outside an Iceland supermarket in Kentish Town, North London. Paul May, William James and Jason Chan were due to stand trial after allegedly taking cheese, tomatoes and cakes worth £33 from bins behind the shop. The Iceland chain denied any involvement in contacting the police, and in a public statement it questioned why the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) felt that it was in the public interest to pursue a case against the three individuals. The three men, all of no fixed address, were due to attend a hearing at Highbury Magistrates' Court on 3 February 2014. However, before that date the CPS announced its decision to drop the case, stating that it felt it had not given due weight to the public interest factors tending against prosecution. In 2020, 573 people were prosecuted under the act. In 2020 and 2021, calls for reform of the law in England have been growing with increasing pressure placed on Government by homelessness campaigners, members of parliament and other NGOs. This has led to comments from some senior figures in the