Much of the legislation dates from Victorian times and this "difficult and complex" area has not been substantially altered since 1956.

We want the law to set out very clearly what is acceptable and what is not

Hilary Benn

But while times have changed - along with social attitudes - laws on indecency, sexual assault, rape and sex crimes against children, have not.

Greater access to modern technologies like the internet has made youngsters particularly vulnerable to paedophiles.

The men who would once hang around outside schools in search of their prey, can now trawl internet porn sites from the comfort of their own home.

'Archaic' laws

Home Secretary David Blunkett, however, hopes his reforms will outlaw predatory approaches through chatrooms.

It is believed that as many as one in five children receive sexual advances through their computers.

The new Sexual Offences Bill will deal with people who try to groom children for abuse, with a penalty of up to five years imprisonment.

In his bid to make the UK's current "archaic, incoherent and discriminatory" laws fit for the 21st Century, Mr Blunkett has also addressed the thorny issue of consent in rape cases.

Currently a defendant cannot be convicted of rape if he argues that he honestly believed that the individual consented, however unreasonable that "honest belief" would appear.

Sex agreement

Under the new proposals, juries trying to establish whether consent was given will be asked to consider what the defendant did, that was reasonable, to confirm that the sexual partner did consent to have sex.

Home Office Minister Hilary Benn said: "It is not about listing a series of steps or having a pen and paper by the bed.

"It is about a jury asking that question so it is clear that sex was fully agreed to."

But the motivation for the change is clear.

The numbers of people found guilty of rape in comparison with the total number of offences reported has fallen from 25% in 1985 to 7% in 2000.

Complex law

Mr Benn stressed: "We want the law to set out very clearly what is acceptable and what is not and attach the appropriate penalties to behaviour that is unacceptable.

"We know about the impact sexual cases have on victims. We want to set out really clearly the particular responsibility we feel society has to protect the vulnerable and especially children.

"This is a very difficult, complex area of the law and no government has chose to tackle it since 1956 and we want to get the balance right."

The minister added: "We are not trying to interfere in the lives of consenting adults, but we are trying to make sure that action that we regard as unacceptable is dealt with appropriately by the law."