On 1 January a petition calling for the banning of medical intervention to change gender surgically or medically by hormones for people below the age of 18 was sent to the Department of Health and Social Care. Responding to the petition on 20 February, the department appears not to have changed its policy, stating that a person under 16 is competent to give valid consent to a particular intervention if they have sufficient intelligence to enable them to understand fully what is proposed. There are no such sentiments when it comes to protecting under-18s from making choices they might in the future regret with regard to purchasing tobacco and alcohol; also, sex under the age of 16 remains a criminal offence.