§ Mr. AshtonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the dates of legislation currently in force relating to the age of mutual consent in respect of sexual acts between(a) males and females and (b) males and males. [9157]
§ Mr. MichaelThe information requested is as follows:
(a) Males and Females
Sexual Offences Act 1956 section 6. This makes it an offence for a man to have unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl under the age of 16. A statutory age of consent at 16 was first enacted in 1885.(b) Males and Males
Before 1967, all homosexual acts were illegal. The current controls are set out in the Sexual Offences Act 1956: section 12 and the Sexual Offences Act 1967, section 1 (both as amended by the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 section 143). The age of consent for consensual homosexual acts in private was set at 21 in 1967 and reduced to 18 in 1994.