Amendments to Non-surgical Procedures and Functions of Medical Reviewers (Scotland) Bill: FOI release

Information requested

Stage 3 amendments expanded the scope of SP Bill 77 to explicitly include microneedles within the definition of injection, bringing microneedling techniques within the Group 2 and Group 3 restrictions.

Please provide all clinical evidence, expert opinions, or risk assessments relied upon by the Scottish Government in support of this reclassification before the relevant Stage 3 amendment was tabled.

Response

The Scottish Government does not have the information you have asked for and the reasons for this are set out below.

Although it is correct to say that during the Bill’s passage paragraph 5 of schedule 1, which relates to injectable procedures, was amended to make explicit that injectable procedures in which a substance is injected “(including by means of a microneedle)” were included within this definition, microneedling techniques were already included in the list of procedures regulated by the Non-Surgical Procedures and Functions of Medical Reviewers (Scotland) Bill 2026.

At introduction schedule 1 of the Bill included the following paragraphs:

"Injectable procedure
5. A procedure other than tattooing in which a substance is injected into or under skin."

"Microneedling
7. A procedure in which microneedles are used to puncture skin to a depth of 1.5 millimetres or more."

As such, both injectable procedures and microneedling at depths of 1.5mm or more were already included in the Bill.

At Stage 2, amendments were made to the “injectable procedure” and “intravenous procedure” definitions in paragraph 5 and 6 of schedule 1 of the Bill to provide that these procedures are those which are carried out for a cosmetic or wellbeing purpose (or both). At the same time, the microneedling definition was amended to exclude injectable and intravenous procedures with a view to clarifying that any injectable or intravenous procedure using a microneedle would fall within definitions in paragraph 5 or 6 of the Bill when carried out for a cosmetic or wellbeing purpose.

The amendments to the “injectable procedure” and “intravenous procedure” definitions at Stage 3 did not result in a substantive change to the procedures listed in schedule 1 of the Bill. They were made to provide clarification that an injection or intravenous administration of a substance “(including by means of a microneedle)” fall within the “injectable procedure” or “intravenous procedure” definitions in paragraph 5 or 6 of the Bill.

As microneedling was not reclassified at Stage 3 the Scottish Government does not hold information relevant to this request – no clinical evidence, expert opinions, or risk assessments were collected or relied upon in making this technical change, nonetheless the following information was provided in advice to Ministers concerning the relevant Stage 3 amendment and is released as being relevant to this request.

Further to amendments at Stage 2 which clarified that the definition of microneedling does not include the use of microneedling to inject a substance or to introduce it intravenously. These amendments are necessary to ensure that it is clear that the use of microneedles to inject or introduce a substance intravenously is instead captured by paragraphs 5 and 6. Ministers agreed to the relevant amendments being lodged further to this advice.

It may also be helpful to note that the inclusion of some microneedling in the scope of the Bill is consistent with the approach set out in the response, published in June 2025 to the consultation on the licensing and regulation of non-surgical cosmetic procedures.
While I hope the information above is helpful this is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

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