Chamber and committees

This has been an interesting debate and the speeches that we have heard today have made the rationale for the bill clear. On a point of historical interest, it feels to me as if we have imperceptibly shifted and are going back to the era of the barber surgeon and of insufficient regulation. It is important to note that the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh was originally called the Edinburgh Guild of Barbers and Surgeons. We moved away from that sort of back-street practice for good reason, but if we do not recognise the shifts in medical and clinical trends, we are in danger of a slippage in patient and public safety.

That is why the legislation is welcome. One of the basic rules of good governance is that, when society changes, our laws and regulations must be kept up to date to reflect that. I think that everyone here today recognises that the world of non-surgical cosmetic procedures has been transformed. Something that was once the realm of celebrities and the super-rich, or that we might watch on the Discovery channel, is increasingly ubiquitous in society. We see discounted Botox, chemical peels and other non-surgical cosmetic procedures and it seems that there is a story almost every other week about an alcohol-fuelled Botox party or a non-surgical cosmetic procedure gone wrong. We have heard some horror stories in speeches today and the committee even heard of hotel rooms and garden sheds being used as places where people could go to have such procedures. That worrying situation is in desperate need of state regulation.

We must be clear that it is not for Parliament to determine a person’s choice about how they wish to present themselves to the world, but it is imperative that any new and emerging industry has the necessary protections and regulations in place to ensure public safety. We know that many providers keep to high standards but also know that many, sadly, do not. That is the point of having a regulatory floor. Just as we require the highest standards in the national health service, from clinicians in private practice and from our factories and service industries, the safety of patients, consumers and staff must always be maintained. That is why Labour supports the bill in principle.

That connection with Stan Laurel shows the closeness between Ruglonians and Glaswegians. Stan Laurel cut his teeth on the boards of the Britannia Panopticon music hall in Glasgow’s Trongate. From the original construction of Glasgow cathedral to the shared relationship between our transport systems, or even the 21-year experiment that Rutherglen had as part of Glasgow District Council, there is an indelible link between the city of Glasgow and Rutherglen. Long may that flourish, particularly through projects such as the Clyde gateway.

The First Minister will be aware that the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow announced that it was going into liquidation this week, leading to the loss of 39 jobs directly. Tenants and freelancers will also be affected. Creative Scotland, the public body that owns the building—it has done so for the past half century; the CCA has been a fixture in the Glasgow arts scene—has failed to intervene in the situation, which does not square with the Government’s fair work commitments on consultation, dignity at work and worker protection.

I ask the First Minister to intervene directly with Creative Scotland and order it to set up a successor organisation to re-employ those workers and reopen that critical cultural organisation in the heart of Glasgow—a city that has already suffered greatly, and continues to suffer, from the fire at the Glasgow School of Art and its aftermath, and from wider issues of regeneration on Sauchiehall Street. I hope that he will commit to doing so.

There are so many projects to discuss, but one that particularly springs to mind in the discussion about skills—and heritage skills in particular—is the restoration of the Overtoun park bandstand, which was destroyed in 2024. It is welcome that funding is being committed to restore it, but it shows the critical nature of Scotland’s skills in that area of conservation. In particular, the recent loss of Ballantine Castings shows the importance of architectural ironwork skills. I hope that that can be brought to bear in the restoration of Rutherglen’s Overtoun park bandstand in the coming months.

The First Minister will be aware that the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow announced that it was going into liquidation this week, leading to the loss of 39 jobs directly. Tenants and freelancers will also be affected. Creative Scotland, the public body that owns the building—it has done so for the past half century; the CCA has been a fixture in the Glasgow arts scene—has failed to intervene in the situation, which does not square with the Government’s fair work commitments on consultation, dignity at work and worker protection.

I ask the First Minister to intervene directly with Creative Scotland and order it to set up a successor organisation to re-employ those workers and reopen that critical cultural organisation in the heart of Glasgow—a city that has already suffered greatly, and continues to suffer, from the fire at the Glasgow School of Art and its aftermath, and from wider issues of regeneration on Sauchiehall Street. I hope that he will commit to doing so.

I do. That is an area that we want to develop further in the next stages of the bill.

It is also important to demonstrate best practice for people who might want to enter the industry and develop their skills. We want to promote best practice and discourage unhelpful practice. That cycle should drive innovation. We should not be an enemy of progress; we should just try to guide it towards the public good. Regulation should help to level the playing field between those who, on one hand, choose to cut corners on patient and staff safety in order to maximise profit and those who, on the other hand, are already investing in training and health and safety in order to develop a thriving business that is patient-centric and ethical in nature.

Creating that level playing field is key so that customers have confidence that they are guaranteed to get good-quality treatment and so that practitioners are given the opportunity to grow through training opportunities and to access appropriate facilities that, rather than being prohibitively expensive, could be developed in a co-operative way. We should look to drive that, because Scotland’s reputation for safety in patient care is paramount.

That does not mean that Labour believes that the bill is perfect. We share concerns about the need to ensure that the necessary regulations are accompanied by proper support and guidance for practitioners, who will need to develop their practice to meet the new standards. We heard some concerns raised about that in the committee. We do not want people to lose their livelihoods as a result of this; we want to guide them towards the standards that will help them to reach their potential. The purpose of the bill should therefore not be to remove from the industry those who lack certain qualifications if they are willing to learn and to improve their practice. This should be an opportunity to improve the general common weal rather than just reduce consumer choice.

Today, we have heard from across the Parliament about why non-cosmetic surgery needs to be brought under regulations. Although it is a relatively new industry, it is expanding rapidly, and it is only right that we intervene via legislation to create the necessary changes and improvements that will let it thrive in a manner that is conducive to public and patient safety.

The bill will not solve everything. Much is happening in Scotland that is already illegal. However, without proper enforcement, many surgical abuses will continue. As it stands, there are very real concerns about how support will be given to the industry to meet the new standards. That is a real concern that we need to look at more.

However, it is clear that regulation is needed now so that patients can be assured of their safety, so that staff are safe and well trained, and so that Scottish practitioners can lead the world by developing best practice.

For all those reasons, Labour is happy to support the bill.

16:47

This has been an interesting debate and the speeches that we have heard today have made the rationale for the bill clear. On a point of historical interest, it feels to me as if we have imperceptibly shifted and are going back to the era of the barber surgeon and of insufficient regulation. It is important to note that the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh was originally called the Edinburgh Guild of Barbers and Surgeons. We moved away from that sort of back-street practice for good reason, but if we do not recognise the shifts in medical and clinical trends, we are in danger of a slippage in patient and public safety.

That is why the legislation is welcome. One of the basic rules of good governance is that, when society changes, our laws and regulations must be kept up to date to reflect that. I think that everyone here today recognises that the world of non-surgical cosmetic procedures has been transformed. Something that was once the realm of celebrities and the super-rich, or that we might watch on the Discovery channel, is increasingly ubiquitous in society. We see discounted Botox, chemical peels and other non-surgical cosmetic procedures and it seems that there is a story almost every other week about an alcohol-fuelled Botox party or a non-surgical cosmetic procedure gone wrong. We have heard some horror stories in speeches today and the committee even heard of hotel rooms and garden sheds being used as places where people could go to have such procedures. That worrying situation is in desperate need of state regulation.

We must be clear that it is not for Parliament to determine a person’s choice about how they wish to present themselves to the world, but it is imperative that any new and emerging industry has the necessary protections and regulations in place to ensure public safety. We know that many providers keep to high standards but also know that many, sadly, do not. That is the point of having a regulatory floor. Just as we require the highest standards in the national health service, from clinicians in private practice and from our factories and service industries, the safety of patients, consumers and staff must always be maintained. That is why Labour supports the bill in principle.

There are so many projects to discuss, but one that particularly springs to mind in the discussion about skills—and heritage skills in particular—is the restoration of the Overtoun park bandstand, which was destroyed in 2024. It is welcome that funding is being committed to restore it, but it shows the critical nature of Scotland’s skills in that area of conservation. In particular, the recent loss of Ballantine Castings shows the importance of architectural ironwork skills. I hope that that can be brought to bear in the restoration of Rutherglen’s Overtoun park bandstand in the coming months.

That connection with Stan Laurel shows the closeness between Ruglonians and Glaswegians. Stan Laurel cut his teeth on the boards of the Britannia Panopticon music hall in Glasgow’s Trongate. From the original construction of Glasgow cathedral to the shared relationship between our transport systems, or even the 21-year experiment that Rutherglen had as part of Glasgow District Council, there is an indelible link between the city of Glasgow and Rutherglen. Long may that flourish, particularly through projects such as the Clyde gateway.

The member is making a powerful speech. Does he agree that truth does not care about power or ideology but is perpetual? I believe that the truth is that the person who applied pressure to put schedule and cost over safety was guilty of a criminal act. Does he agree?