Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the regulation of cosmetic procedures; and what estimate he has made of the annual cost of treating complications from such procedures.

The Government is committed to addressing longstanding concerns around the safety of the cosmetics sector. On 7 August we announced our plans to introduce legal restrictions which will ensure that the highest risk cosmetic procedures are brought into Care Quality Commission regulation and can only be performed by specified regulated healthcare professionals.

In addition, the Government has also committed to legislating to introduce a licensing scheme for lower risk procedures through powers granted through the Health and Care Act 2022. Under the proposed scheme, which will be operated by local authorities, practitioners will be required to obtain a licence to perform specified cosmetic procedures, and the premises from which they operate will also need to be licensed. To protect children and young people, the Government is also committed to mandating age restrictions for cosmetic procedures.

Further details of the Government’s commitments are available in the Government’s response to the 2023 consultation on the licensing of non-surgical cosmetic procedures in England, which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/licensing-of-non-surgical-cosmetic-procedures

The Department does not have data on the annual costs to the National Health Service of treating complications from cosmetic procedures. We are exploring ways to improve our understanding of the scale of the cost to the NHS.