Regulation and licensing of non-surgical cosmetic procedures: consultation analysis and response

4: Next steps

To implement the proposals in the previous section of this paper, and to respond to the strong appetite for change expressed through the consultation and other engagement, as outlined in Section 2 of this paper, the Scottish Government will need to put forward legislation.

The passage of this legislation is a matter for the Scottish Parliament, but the Scottish Government proposes to bring forward a combination of primary and secondary legislation in the current session of Parliament. The Scottish Government will then work with Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) and environmental health officers to implement the legislation.

This section sets out the proposed legislative vehicles and highlights a potential challenge to some aspects of the proposals.

UK Internal Market Act

The UK Internal Market Act 2020 (UKIMA) was introduced with the stated intention of ensuring the smooth functioning of trade and professional services across the four nations of the UK following the UK’s exit from the European Union.

The Act was passed without the consent of any devolved legislature, and the Scottish Government position in relation to UKIMA is set out in a position paper published as part of the ongoing statutory review of the Act being undertaken by the UK Government in 2025 (Internal Market Act 2020: position paper - gov.scot). The Scottish Government is considering if UKIMA presents a challenge to the intentions set out in section 3 of this paper, especially the proposals to require practitioners of non-surgical cosmetic procedures to meet specific training and qualification standards, and for certain procedures to be undertaken by certain healthcare professionals.

The legislation that the Scottish Government introduces in the coming months will seek to implement the proposals as fully as possible. Where appropriate, this may lay the groundwork to implement some parts of the proposals at a future point, especially where UKIMA may make any aspects of the proposals unworkable or unenforceable. The Scottish Government intends to work with the UK Government and other devolved administrations on this issue.

Proposed legislation

The Scottish Government is preparing legislation to regulate non-surgical cosmetic procedures, with the aim of improving public safety, ensuring consistent standards, and addressing long-standing concerns about unregulated practice in the sector. This will require primary and secondary legislation.

Secondary Legislation: Group 1 Procedures and Local Authority licensing

The Scottish Government is proposing that Group 1 procedures can be undertaken in a licensed premises. A new statutory instrument under the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 will introduce a licensing scheme for premises, similar to the existing regime for tattoos and piercing set out in The Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Skin Piercing and Tattooing) Order 2006. Mandatory conditions for these licenses will put in place standards for cleanliness and hygiene of premises and enforcing the use of appropriate materials. The licence conditions will benefit from further targeted engagement with environmental health officers and businesses who are currently undertaking these procedures to ensure that all requirements are proportionate and enforceable.

The Scottish Government also proposes that a practitioner licence will be required for a Group 1 procedure to be undertaken in a licensed premises. This is the means of enforcing a training standard. No licence will be required in a HIS setting for either the premises or the practitioner, although some practitioners may operate in both HIS and licensed settings, and hold a licence in any case. These provisions will also be introduced in an instrument made under the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982.

The instrument creating the premises licence will be laid in draft before the end of the year, and the instrument creating the practitioner licence will be laid in the fullness of time, subject to consideration of the impact of UKIMA on its provisions.

Primary Legislation: Group 2 and 3 Procedures, HIS regulated settings and age restrictions

In the Programme for Government announced in May 2025 a Non-surgical Cosmetics Procedure Bill was announced. It will be introduced to the Scottish Parliament in the autumn (2025). The Scottish Government proposes that this Bill will be how Group 2 and 3 procedures will be restricted to clinical settings, in most cases to settings regulated with HIS. The Bill will set age restrictions for procedures, and create offences as required to enforce these provisions. The Bill may contain wider provision to support standards for training, qualifications, supervision, hygiene, staffing and governance, subject to consideration of existing HIS enforcement powers and the impact of UKIMA.

The Scottish Government will consider to what degree the provisions of the Bill proposed here will engage UKIMA, and work through the implications of this.

The Bill will need to provide for powers for Ministers to add to or change the list of non-surgical cosmetic procedures, and/or to change the restrictions of those procedures, either to respond to new procedures or to changes in the training and wider landscape. The Scottish Government will consider whether it is possible to take powers that allow the introduction of any elements of these proposals that are not immediately workable, but which may be in the future.

Additional next steps

The Scottish Government will continue to engage with HIS and local authority environmental health officers on the implementation of the full proposals. Timetables for implementation will be discussed with both HIS and local authorities to ensure that the proposals can be effectively enforced, and the Scottish Government will also consider the need to ensure that businesses have time to adapt to any new requirements.

HIS and environmental health officers may benefit from some guidance to support their implementation of legislation - this requirement will also be kept under review, and any guidance would follow the passage of legislation.

The Scottish Government will, outside of the legislative work set out in the section above, also continue to work with HIS around the wider regulation of independent healthcare and their powers of enforcement, to ensure they remain fit for purpose; and will also work with HIS and appropriate representative bodies on the wider issue of exemptions to HIS registration.