Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I am requesting the following information for the 2025/26 financial year (1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026). If the authority does not hold figures for 2025/26, please provide them for its most recent 12-month recording period and state the dates covered. In this request, "reconnection or voluntary return" means the supported, voluntary return of a non-UK national to a country outside the UK, where the person actually travelled. It includes: * returns recorded under other terms, such as "supported return" or "assisted return". * returns through the Home Office Voluntary Returns Service following a referral by the authority or services acting on its behalf. It excludes: * reconnection to another area within the UK. * enforced removals carried out by the Home Office. 1. How many individual people did the authority, or services acting on its behalf, see or verify as sleeping rough over the course of 2025/26? Please break this total down by nationality, using the following categories: a) UK b) EEA c) Non-EEA d) Unknown For this request: * "EEA" means nationals of EU member states, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. * "Non-EEA" means nationals of all other countries outside the UK and the EEA (rest of world). * Each person should be counted in one category only. Please count each person once if they were seen or verified as sleeping rough on at least one occasion during the year. If the authority does not record nationality in these categories, please give the figures in whatever categories it does use, and explain what each one covers. I would rather receive the data in the authority's own categories than have this part of the request refused or answered as not held. 1. During 2025/26, how many services that the authority ran, commissioned or funded for people sleeping rough offered support to non-UK nationals to reconnect or return voluntarily? For this request, the following should be included: * any service where reconnection or voluntary return is offered, even if that is not its main purpose * services delivered in-house, commissioned from an external provider, funded through a grant, or commissioned jointly with other authorities 1. How many individual non-UK nationals who had been sleeping rough in the authority's area returned to a country outside the UK during 2025/26 through reconnection or voluntary return? Please count only returns supported through services that the authority ran, commissioned or funded. Please break this figure down using the categories in question 1: a) EEA b) Non-EEA c) Unknown Please count: * returns where the person actually travelled, not referrals or offers * each person once, even if they returned more than once during the year If the authority records referrals or offers but does not record whether a return took place, please say so and provide the number of referrals or offers. If the authority records nationality in different categories, please give the figures in those categories instead, as set out in question 1. Please give exact figures throughout. Only if the authority considers that a particular figure would identify someone, please give that figure as "fewer than 5" rather than withholding it or the rest of the response. If any of this information has already been published, please send me a link to where it can be found. If answering any part of this request would exceed the cost limit under section 12, please answer the parts you can within the limit, and tell me which part exceeded it. If the authority does not hold information for any part of this request, please say so explicitly for that part.
Dear Requester,
Thank you for your request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
1. How many individual people did the authority, or services acting on its behalf, see or verify as sleeping rough over the course of 2025/26? Please break this total down by nationality.
The number of people seen bedded down in Oxford during 2025/26 was:
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UK: 203
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EEA: 57
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Non-EEA: 51
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Not known: 82
Total: 393
2. During 2025/26, how many services that the authority ran, commissioned or funded for people sleeping rough offered support to non-UK nationals to reconnect or return voluntarily?
Oxford City Council jointly commissions, with partner authorities, St Mungo's to support people experiencing rough sleeping in Oxford. St Mungo's assists clients who wish to voluntarily reconnect abroad or to other areas of the UK.
3. How many individual non-UK nationals who had been sleeping rough in the authority's area returned to a country outside the UK during 2025/26 through reconnection or voluntary return?
The number of people seen bedded down in Oxford who were assisted to reconnect abroad during 2025/26 was:
Total: 5
Please note that EEA and Non-EEA in this context refer to the country of reconnection and not the individual's nationality.
The countries of reconnection were:
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Czech Republic
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Spain
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Poland
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Republic of Ireland
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Romania
Re-use of Information
You may re-use this information under the terms of the Open Government Licence. While re-use is permitted, you should refer to the specific licence conditions.
Open Government Licence: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/
Internal Review and Right to Complain
If you are dissatisfied with the way your request has been handled or the response provided, you may request an internal review within 40 working days by contacting freedomofinformation@oxford.gov.uk.
If you remain dissatisfied following the internal review, you may complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO):
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Website: https://ico.org.uk
