Agenda item

The Cabinet Member for Homelessness and Regulatory Services introduced a report similar to that which was considered by the Licensing Committee on 26 July 2022, on the harmonisation of skin piercing registration requirements and model byelaws for skin piercing activities.  Members’ approval was sought for the adoption of model byelaws for the safe practice of acupuncture, tattooing, semi-permanent skin-colouring, cosmetic piercing and electrolysis across the whole Council area.

Currently Aylesbury, Chiltern and Wycombe legacy areas had adopted the provisions of sections 14 and 15 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982, which required the registration of businesses and persons who perform skin piercing namely tattooing, ear piercing, electrolysis and acupuncture. As part of a consolidation exercise, it was recommended that the provisions of sections 14 to 17 inclusive of the Act be adopted across the Buckinghamshire area.

At present, the Buckinghamshire area had existing byelaws from legacy council areas which dealt with the hygiene practices and procedures in relation to some or all of the practices of acupuncture, electrolysis, ear piercing, tattooing, cosmetic piercing (piercing of the body including the ear) and semi-permanent skin-colouring including micro pigmentation, semi-permanent make-up and temporary tattooing. However, these were not consistent across the whole of the Council area. A draft byelaw based on the consolidated set of model byelaws, which had been produced by the Department of Health, was attached at Appendix 1. It was recommended that all existing byelaws from the legacy council areas in relation to semi-permanent skin colouring and cosmetic piercing, acupuncture, ear piercing, electrolysis and tattooing or related be revoked and replaced by the consolidated set of model byelaws for the Buckinghamshire Council area.

If sections 14 to 17 of the Act and the consolidated byelaws were not adopted, then there may be some members of the public who would not be adequately protected from unregistered businesses. By extending the range of activities that come within the registering regime, greater protection from the transmission of blood borne virus infections would be provided and improved enforcement provisions adopted.

As part of the adoption and confirmation processes for byelaws, the Council would be required to publish public notices as a one-off exercise in local newspapers. Whilst the adoption and implementation processes for both the requirement to register business and byelaws would incur a cost to the Council, this would be met from within existing budgets.

If adopted, as well as the statutory requirements, such policy changes would be publicised on the Council’s web pages and existing businesses would be notified. Existing skin piercing businesses had already been notified of the potential change in policy as part of communication relating to the harmonisation of the registration fees.

If approved by Full Council, the statutory implementation process after adoption of the registration requirements would be completed, new registration requirements policies would be created/extended pending formal implementation and related byelaws for cosmetic piercing, semi-permanent skin colouring, acupuncture, ear-piercing, electrolysis and tattooing would be drawn up in line with the consolidated model byelaws. An application to the Secretary of State would be made for confirmation of such byelaws covering the Buckinghamshire Council area and that once confirmed, related existing legacy byelaws would be revoked.

During discussion, a query was raised as to whether the proposed byelaws may place a regulatory burden on businesses and thus require additional staffing resource within the Council to monitor premises. The Cabinet Member advised that a public consultation would be undertaken before the byelaws were submitted to the Secretary of State, and existing businesses should already be ensuring their premises were of appropriate cleanliness with materials sterilised and cared for as necessary. Inspections would be covered by the existing team of inspection officers and it was understood that there would be no capacity issues. As with any public health risks, inspections of new businesses and inspections upon receipt of complaints would continue to be prioritised.

The Cabinet Member, in response to a query on potential further legislation in relation to skin shading / botox treatments, advised that the team would react to this as necessary as any new legislation came forward.

Councillor Winn moved the recommendations noted below. These were seconded by Councillor D Barnes.  

RESOLVED –

(1)   That the provisions of Sections 14 to 17 inclusive of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982 (as amended) in relation to acupuncture, tattooing, ear-piercing and electrolysis to apply to the Buckinghamshire Council area be ADOPTED by the Council, with effect from 1 December 2022.

(2)  That subject to the adoption at recommendation (1) and subject to required provisional approval by the Secretary of State, the Council ADOPTS the model byelaws relating to acupuncture, tattooing, semipermanent skin colouring, cosmetic piercing and electrolysis, as detailed at Appendix 1 to the Council report.

(3)   That the affixing of the common seal to the model byelaws be authorised, and the Appropriate Officer be authorised to carry out the necessary procedures and apply to the Secretary of State for confirmation.