Jim Shannon

It is a real pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Desmond. I am sure that when Jan Spivey went to see her MP, the hon. Member for Putney (Fleur Anderson), it was a meeting between two enthusiastic people—not just the one. It is lovely to see the hon. Lady here, having stepped away from the Northern Ireland Office, to make a contribution in today’s Backbench Business debate. This always says a lot about the individual person, and I am very encouraged to see her here. She is a friend, of course, but none the less we are very pleased to be together. I thank the hon. Member for Bromsgrove (Bradley Thomas) for highlighting this issue. As he rightly says—indeed, as everyone in this debate will say—it is of great importance, given the increasing usage of non-surgical procedures. We have all read the terrible stories of procedures gone wrong. Most of those that I am aware of are of people who went overseas. One person went to Turkey for a hair transplant—to be facetious, I probably need one very badly, but there is very little donor area around the sides of my head to help. Joking aside, people go abroad to have surgical cosmetic changes made, such as butt lifts, which I understand caused the death of one person, lip lifts, which have left some people disfigured, or breast enhancements, which unfortunately have also led to some deaths. I have tabled questions on this very issue, asking the Government to consider legislation to ensure that there is a system, a regulation or a methodology applied for those who go overseas for these procedures. There must be controls; there must be insurance; there must be a way for those procedures to happen in a safe and secure way. So many disasters have taken place, and unfortunately deaths as well. In my Strangford constituency, so great is the concern that my local council, Ards and North Down borough council, has put up guidance on making clear choices. The council does not have responsibility for this matter—it is the Department of Health’s responsibility—but the fact that it has done that in my area tells me that the councillors have been contacted by their constituents about these issues and that they feel it is important to put up the signage with guidance on making choices. In Northern Ireland, our local councils have no responsibility for health, so the fact that the council has stepped in shows the depth of concern felt locally. In 2022, Ards and North Down borough council, in conjunction with other councils in Northern Ireland, wrote to the Department of Health to ask for better regulation of cosmetic treatments in Northern Ireland and for a licensing scheme for non-surgical cosmetic procedures to be introduced. All those councils recognise a need to do something above and beyond what has already been done. In the absence of a licensing scheme, they strongly advise anyone thinking of having a cosmetic treatment to read the advice they have put up on the website, which lists the important considerations. That is great for those who have considered procedures and are looking for a safe way of getting them, and for those who are trying to find the cheapest solution— I hate to say it, but more often than not, people are driven by the cost factor. That is why they go to Turkey, where these procedures are cheaper. Is there regulation? No, there is not. Should there be? Yes, there should. Those are some of the things we need to see. If there is no regulation and no built-in protection, there is a clear danger. I am pleased, as always, to see the Minister in her place. She and I are often in the same debates; I am always one of those with questions, and she is always very helpful in trying to respond to our requests, so I look forward to her answers later on. I am also pleased to see her retaining her position in the Health and Social Care Department; that tells us all that she is a safe pair of hands, and the Government and the Prime Minister recognise that. In 2023 alone, an estimated 7.7 million people underwent cosmetic and aesthetic procedures ranging from botox to chemical peels, fat dissolution and facelifts. They are all unregulated, and all of them can go wrong, leaving irreparable damage. That is what we need to make people aware of at all stages.