Sunbeds (Regulation) Bill

My Lords, I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay, on this typically thoroughly-researched, targeted and focused legislation for which she is rightly known. On a day when it is snowing in Scotland, I was preparing for this debate and I thought about my Scottish childhood—I freely admit it—when beachwear consisted of Aran jumpers because it was so cold. However, it was not so many years ago that friends of mine suffered badly from sunburn in Aberdeen, which was previously unheard of. So the background to the Bill is one in which our climate is changing, which adds some weight to the debate. We on these Benches welcome and support the Bill. Like all legislation, it could perhaps do with some revision but, as a first step, it is a sound basis on which to proceed. In my research for the Bill I was glad to see a paper from the British Association of Dermatologists; its acronym is BAD but, from its briefing, it seems a very good organisation. It is absolutely unequivocal in calling for a ban on coin-operated and unmanned sunbeds. Its reason for doing so is that the evidence base is so strong. In this House in recent times we have debated different measures to tackle the issue of cancer prevention and sometimes we have disputed the evidence, but this time the evidence from this country is clear and unequivocal. The British Association of Dermatologists makes a good point when it indicates that many people are completely unaware of the risks of these machines—indeed, some people labour under the impression that they are beneficial to health—and it cites the moves in Scotland towards licensed premises and licensed machines as being of benefit. It is right that local authorities should be given powers to ensure that there is compliance with a licensing regime and that standards are met. There is a responsible end of the industry which deserves to be supported. As the noble Baroness said, a great many people go about their business in a perfectly reasonable and honest way and we would not wish to prevent them doing so. I was particularly taken by a study in Northern Ireland. I know that the Bill applies in England and Wales but, although I am not keen on legislation which seeks to go into other jurisdictions and choose examples of how one might selectively go about doing things, it seems to me that this study is highly relevant and very valuable. It was conducted by a team led by Mr Art O’Hagan and studied 322 tanning salons in Northern Ireland over an eight-week period in July and August 2007. It came up with some remarkable findings. Over a quarter of the premises used type 4 sunbeds, which are for medical and not cosmetic use, and it is possible that many others were using sunbeds which emitted UV rays way in excess of those. Most of the salon owners—62 per cent—did not know what level of radiation was being emitted by their machines; 39 per cent of the premises reported that they did not regularly test their devices and did not know when the last inspection had been; and in 71 per cent of tanning salons the operating manuals for the beds were not available and there was no reliable oversight of the machines. Faulty machines can produce very high levels of radiation, cause burning of the skin and potentially lead to skin cancer. It is interesting that in one-fifth of the tanning salons, the customers’ skin type was not discussed with them. Of the indigenous population of Northern Ireland who felt that they had very dark skin, 40 per cent were skin types I and II—light-skinned people who are particularly at risk. People with skin types V and VI—dark Asian or black skinned—are much less open to damage from UV rays. If you combine badly managed enterprises with people who do not know their own risk factors, you could end up with a potentially lethal situation. Worryingly, the study found that in 38 per cent of cases people were charged for using protective eye goggles. We know that these machines can cause severe damage to eyes and, particularly, cataracts. All in all, the findings from Northern Ireland are very relevant to England and Wales. Other studies, such as the one carried out at the Ninewells Hospital in Dundee which was a precursor to some of the Scottish measures, have also found that the levels of UVB radiation from machines were increasing; the machines are becoming much stronger than they were in the past. I said that I do not like cherry picking from other jurisdictions but in America, William James, the president of the American Academy of Dermatology, said that his group has seen a startling increase in skin cancer among women in their teens and twenties. He went on to say: ""What was formerly considered a disease of older men is ballooning in young women, the very target audience and the number one customer of the tanning industry"." My colleagues in Liverpool, where we know there is a particular problem, are very supportive of the Bill. Ron Gould, a Liberal Democrat councillor, has been working for a number of years to try to bring about exactly the sort of measures contained in the Bill. He wishes to see them on a statutory basis so that local authorities can go after unlicensed premises which are acting unsafely and target particularly vulnerable groups within the city’s population. There are more than 300 premises with sunbeds in Liverpool and across the Mersey on the Wirral, and an outbreak of dermatological problems at some of them is becoming very serious. The evidence base is sufficiently strong for us to accept the Bill; it may not be perfect but it is a good way to proceed. It does not, for example, limit the access of children and young people to private sunbeds—that is outwith its ambit—but it makes a start. I have one reservation. We are placing yet another duty on local authorities, albeit not one of the biggest. The duty will also fall disproportionately on different local authorities. I therefore ask the Minister whether the department might work with those local authorities in which there is a particular incidence and prevalence of the problem not only to assist them with ensuring that there is compliance but in funding targeted awareness campaigns. One thing that is becoming very apparent is that we do not just have the broad headlines on health and illnesses associated with this; we are getting very good at mapping to a high level the incidence of this in the most vulnerable communities. All in all, this is a good piece of legislation and I am very pleased to lend support from these Benches.