Meeting of the Parliament 17 March 2026 [Draft]
At stage 2, amendments were made to the definition of “non-surgical procedure” in section 1 and to the procedures set out in schedule 1 that are non-surgical procedures for the purposes of the bill. Group 1 contains further technical amendments in my name to ensure that the descriptions of different procedures are clear.
Amendment 1 will clarify that a procedure may fall within several procedure descriptions in schedule 1 or may combine different kinds of procedures and still be a non-surgical procedure for the purposes of the bill. Amendments 8 and 9 will make it clear that injectable and intravenous procedures may involve the use of a microneedle. Amendment 2 will remove a redundant “or” from section 1(1)(b)(ii).
Sandesh Gulhane’s amendment 10 would remove persons who are regulated by the General Osteopathic Council from the list of regulated healthcare professionals in section 1(3). That would remove osteopaths from the healthcare exception in section 1(1)(b)(ii). At stage 2, Dr Gulhane raised concerns about the inclusion of osteopaths. I met him to discuss that, and he should not be surprised that I urge him not to press his amendment 10. The bill is not the place to judge what does and does not constitute healthcare or whether particular healthcare procedures are appropriate or effective in the treatment of disease. That is a matter for healthcare professionals and their regulators.
At stage 2, I told the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee that what is proposed in amendment 10 would raise concerns about legislative competence due to its interaction with the reservation of the regulation of health professionals in reservation G2 in schedule 5 to the Scotland Act 1998. That includes osteopaths as the profession that is regulated by the Osteopaths Act 1993. I urge Dr Gulhane not to press amendment 10 and I urge members to support my amendments in the group.
I move amendment 1.