How to respond to the consultation

Responses must be received by close of business on Friday 14 March. You may send your response by post or e-mail to:

Tips for writing

The Scottish Government is consulting on recommended changes to the age of consent law. We are asking people to strongly oppose plans to liberalise the age of consent by allowing children as young as 13 to engage in sexual activity.Please note: you do not have to see the consultation paper or Scottish Law Commission report to respond.

• Please use your own words. Be firm, but also polite and brief.
• Say that you oppose legalising teenage sexual activity.
• If you have a personal interest in the implications of these proposals, say so.

• You may have children or grandchildren
• You may work with children and young people in a professional capacity, such as teaching or social work
• You may bear responsibility for young people’s welfare in another formal capacity, perhaps as a school governor or Neighbourhood Watch volunteer
• You may be involved in voluntary leadership of organisations for children and young people, within your church or elsewhere
• You may have a particular concern for the young people in your church or local community as you witness the ways in which the prevailing culture pressures them to sexualise at an early age

You may wish to use two or three of the following in your response:

• Say that the age of consent is there to protect vulnerable young people and that liberalising it will put more young people at risk.
• Say that there can be no justification for changing the law to allow school-age children to become sexually active.
• Say that the current age of consent acts as a strong deterrent to casual sexual activity.
• Say that teenagers can be very vulnerable to abuse by older teenagers and they need the full protection of the law. Many cases of child abuse are committed by young people.
• Say that under the proposed changes an older teenager could manipulate a younger teenager into sexual activity.
• Say that vulnerable teenage girls or boys should not have to prove to a court that they did not consent to a sexual act.
• Say that liberalising the age of consent for teenagers would encourage sexual experimentation, inevitably increasing teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.
• Say that a firm age of consent is a crucial support for teenagers seeking to resist pressure to become sexually active.
• Say that many who engage in teenage sex later regret it.
• Say that the age of consent covers particularly dangerous sexual acts, including anal intercourse which has a vastly increased risk of contracting HIV/Aids.