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Sunbeds (Regulation) Bill

It gives me enormous pleasure to congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff, North (Julie Morgan) on coming so high in the ballot and on choosing this extremely important Bill to ban the use of tanning salons by young people under the age of 18. My hon. Friend the Member for Swansea, East (Mrs. James) has championed that cause unstintingly for a long time. I have been shocked to find out how many people simply do not know what is happening. When I have talked to constituents about what we would be doing today, they have asked, "Aren’t salons already staffed? Aren’t there any regulations? Aren’t young people already banned from going?" They have been horrified to find that it is quite easy for any youngster to walk off the street and into a salon. The age of 11 is a key point at which young people get keen on their appearance. They look at all the magazines, and when they go up to secondary school they want to be big and join in with what the older young people are doing. They want to make themselves as grown-up as possible. They see tanning as one of the ways in which they can do that—they can get that glamorous tan. Of course, it is so easy when they can just walk in off the street, their friends are encouraging them, they feel a bit adventurous and they want to try new things. We all experienced such feelings when we were teenagers, but we are discussing a potentially lethal weapon, to which young people can subject themselves. In a few years, those young people could be very bitter because we, as responsible adults, did nothing to prevent the availability of that opportunity, and they ended up suffering from a devastating form of cancer. Skin cancer is extremely serious; some people think of it as simply cutting out a little mole, but we know how quickly it can spread and develop secondaries. Sadly, many of us know people who have passed away from melanomas and various skin cancers. It is therefore extremely important for us to take a responsible attitude. I know that some young people will feel that we are fuddy-duddies—"This is the adults again, trying to dictate, telling us what we should and shouldn’t do." However, I know that many young people are concerned about what their fellow young people are doing and are aware of the dangers that tanning salons can pose. They know how easy it is for somebody not only to build up a long-term problem, but to suffer immediate damage, as in the sad case we had in south Wales of very severe burning. Clearly, that young person did not intend to do that to herself. It is so easy for such incidents to happen. We must not lose our nerve. Our local authorities need the Bill to regulate properly. We do not want any nonsense about over-regulation. My hon. Friend the Member for Swansea, East clearly made the case for regulation. She has talked and listened carefully to all those involved in the business. She knows that the Bill is the only way forward, and that responsible providers of such services welcome what we are doing and want proper regulation so that we do not have a position whereby young people can simply walk in with no advice, no notices—nothing to warn them of the dangers—and expose their delicate skins to the horrible effects of tanning salons. Of course, we want more than simply to ban under-18s from the salons. We want proper staffing and proper advice available to us all. I hope that the Bill will mark the beginning of getting on to a good footing and taking a sensible approach to tanning salons. We must ensure that we protect our young people and also conduct information campaigns to inform all adults of the potential dangers. We must also ensure that we back up legislation with good education programmes in our schools. We can then say to young people in schools, "This is illegal," so that it is not simply a matter of exhortation, but of putting it plainly to them that they are not allowed to go to tanning salons. That added protection will contribute to the information campaigns. I hope that the Bill will have our full support today.