Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Government plans to enable men cautioned for soliciting and importuning under section 32 of the Sexual Offences Act 1956 before 1 May 2004 to have their crimes disregarded.

Soliciting remains an offence under section 51A of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, regardless of the sexual orientation of the person who is committing the offence.

There is a clear distinction drawn between offences which may be eligible for disregard under the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 and those which relate to behaviour which would still be an offence today.

There are no plans to extend the set of offences covered by the existing disregard arrangements.