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Sunbeds (Regulation) Bill

My hon. Friend is saying, with her typical fair-mindedness, that if we are going to have these powers, there must be a two-way street. There are no measures in this Bill that would impose a duty or obligation on a sunbed user to provide accurate information to the provider or leaser of that sunbed, let alone any measures addressing the provision of false information. That shows that the legislation does not provide a level playing field, but that, basically, it is designed to place an additional—and, in my view, unfair—burden on the legitimate and lawful operators of tanning salons. The Sunbed Association wholeheartedly agrees that salons should display appropriate advice and information on who can use a sunbed and how to use a sunbed responsibly, but it does not think it necessary to include a provision prohibiting any sunbed business from providing or displaying statements relating to the health benefits, because the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 are already in force, and they prohibit unproven, unfounded and misleading claims. Clause 5 is, therefore, at best a duplication of the 2008 consumer protection regulations, and at worst, goes far beyond them by seeking to introduce what I consider to be unreasonable, detailed prescriptive requirements, including the imposition of penalties for failure to comply. We know that a big debate continues out in the real world about the merits or demerits of using sunbeds. I recall reading an article in, I think, the Daily Mail—whether one likes it or not, a lot of people take their health advice from the columns of the Daily Mai—which said that there are substantial benefits from using sunbeds. One can therefore envisage a situation in which a sunbed salon might take that page out of the Daily Mail and put it on a notice board, and then find that it is on the wrong side of the law because the Department of Health had reached a different conclusion, or wanted to peddle a different propaganda message. I therefore think that the terms of clause 5 represent a very sinister part of the Bill, and, once again, they show that its supporters and promoter have got things out of perspective and proportion, and that they are trying to introduce draconian powers far in excess of what is required to address the problem—if problem there be. As I have now explained the reasons why amendment 16 proposes to leave out clause 5, I shall move on to amendment 31, which would leave out clause 10(2)(a). As a result, there would be no power to make regulations to""make different provision for different cases or different areas"." This is, in a sense, a probing amendment. Why might we want to introduce regulations to allow for different provisions to apply? There could be different provisions for, to use race codes, a person with a white skin and somebody with skin of a darker hue. What justification could there be for introducing regulations to distinguish between those two different clients? Also, what justification could there be for introducing rules that might apply differently in Liverpool than in Bournemouth or Christchurch? Before we give the Government the power to make regulations that may make different provision for different cases or areas, I think we need to know why: what is the justification for this? Is the Bill, in effect, hybrid legislation by the back door which we are being asked to introduce? The promoter of the Bill may intend the regulations to apply particularly to the city of Cardiff because there is, apparently, a problem in Cardiff that needs to be addressed. Or it may be that the hon. Lady thinks there ought to be special provision relating to the city of Liverpool, which has been described as many things, but for the purposes of this debate, it is known as the sunbed capital of the United Kingdom, where there is a higher use of sunbeds than in any other conurbation. It would be wrong to describe that as an epidemic, as that would suggest that there is something wrong with using sunbeds. I know that this is not a topic on which my great friend the Mayor of London has yet found it necessary to comment, but perhaps in due course he may wish to comment, if we found ourselves with differential regulations singling out Liverpool or Cardiff for particular treatment under the provisions of the Bill. I will give way to the Minister if she wishes to explain and justify this part of the Bill, as I understand that the Bill was drafted largely by civil servants in her Department, so it might be useful to hear what the justification could be. In the absence of a strong case being made, it would be much better, in the spirit of compromise, to leave out subsection (2)(a) of clause 10. If the Bill goes forward, it will have a differential impact in different parts of the country because it is part of the culture, as I understand it, in Liverpool, Sunderland and perhaps Cardiff for young people to use sunbeds to a much greater extent than they do in other parts of the country. On the back of that, many people have entered the marketplace and set up businesses to meet that need. Those locations are not regarded as being the most prominent centres of high employment and entrepreneurial activity in the country—they all have unemployment problems far greater than some other parts of the country—and the consequences of the Bill may be a differential loss of business and of employment in those important conurbations. I hope that in responding to the debate, the hon. Member for Cardiff, North will address some remarks to that issue. That brings me to amendment 11, which would remove subsection (2) from clause 11. Subsection (2) states:""Subsection (3) applies to an instrument containing (whether alone or with other provisions)—""(a) regulations under section 4, or""(b) regulations under section 5 or 6 which—""(i) create an offence or increase the penalty for an offence, or""(ii) make provision about any of the matters mentioned in section 10(4)(a) to (c)."" The effect of amendment 11, together with amendments 10 and 12, is that all the regulations would have to be made by affirmative resolution, rather than by negative resolution. Those regulation would be under the control of Parliament or the National Assembly for Wales, made by Welsh Ministers. Why do I think any such regulations should be subject to affirmative resolutions? Because we are dealing with significant potential new burdens to be placed upon business. We are discussing quite controversial areas of the law in relation to the health impact or otherwise of the use of sunbeds, and because the Government or the promoter of the Bill have chosen to leave an enormous amount of material unexposed to parliamentary scrutiny at present, which they have it in mind at some stage to table in the form of regulations, those regulations should have to be subject to debate in Parliament. We know that the shortcoming, as always with regulations, is that it would not be possible to amend them, but at least they would have to be debated, and Members of Parliament would have the chance to comment on them and respond to any concerns that constituents might have raised in relation to them. That group of amendments is significant and must be seen in the context of the whole. In conclusion, there is a big problem with the Bill in relation to the burden that it will impose. It is said that the total costs of enforcing the provisions of the Bill would be only £88,000 a year. If that is the case, we might say that an enormous amount of hot air is being expended for very little activity on the ground—£88,000 would be about £200 per constituency throughout the country. One can hardly see £200 worth of inspection, regulation and enforcement delivering much of a transformation to the world of tanning salons, particularly in those city centres where there is an enormous amount of activity. If, as a consequence of the Bill, there would be such a minor cost for the regulators, the challenge that I put to the promoter is this: why are we bothering with such prescriptive regulation? Would it not be much better to go in for a much lighter touch?