Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many pardons have been applied for under the Policing and Crime Act 2017 pardon scheme for gay men; of those, how many have been granted; where applicants have not been pardoned, whether reasons have been given; and if so, what were those reasons.

Pardons under Section 165 of the Policing and Crime Act 2017 are granted automatically when an individual applies successfully for a conviction to be disregarded. To date, there have been 174 pardons granted through this route, from 404 applications for convictions to be disregarded.

If a disregard application is unsuccessful, the applicant will receive a letter detailing the reason for rejection. Most applications are unsuccessful as the convictions concerned are for ineligible offences, such as theft. Applications are also rejected if the activity was non-consensual, involved a person under 16, or remains an offence.

Full statistics are regularly published on gov.uk.