HAIRDRESSERS (REGISTRATION) BILL (Hansard, 26 June 1964)

§ Mr. E. Partridge (Battersea, South)
I beg to move, That the Bill be now read the Third time.
The main contents of this Bill have been sought over many years by those who practise the profession, art and science of hairdressing, with all that that implies, and many attempts have been made to get some legislation on the subject. The interest in this matter has widened to customers and other people, who have been stimulated by the rather dreadful accidents that have taken place in hairdressing establishments.
It has been felt, by the ladies in particular, and by those who practise this art and science, that sufficient knowledge of the apparatus used and the preparation of the various substances handled would lead to a very great reduction in the number of accidents, if not prevent them altogether. The Bill therefore seeks to protect the public to the extent that only operatives highly skilled in beautifying the ladies' crowning glory will offer themselves for this job.
Anxiety was expressed in the Standing Committee that some hairdressers who ought, perhaps, to be on the register might be excluded by some of the Bill's provisions; that there was an exclusive-ness about those entitled to be registered that was foreign to modern thinking. Very proper Amendments were, therefore, made. The result is that the Bill is now a little untidy, but that will be seen to in another place.
I have given an undertaking to do my best to ensure that, in another place, effect will be given to the ideas that were discussed in Committee.

§ Sir Barnett Janner (Leicester, North West)
The first thing I want to do is to inform the House, as I informed the Standing Committee, that for many years I acted in a professional capacity for the Hairdressers' Registration Council. In such circumstances, one acquires a considerable knowledge of the subject.
840 I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Battersea, South (Mr. Partridge) on having got his Bill to this stage. He had done it with a considerable amount of skill, which we expect of him, and with a courteous manner in conceding points. I think that he sometimes realised that if he did not make a concession he might not get his Bill through, but that is beside the point. In other cases, when he realised that the views of others should be carefully considered, he made concessions in a very good manner. Everyone will be grateful to him for the way in which he has conducted the Bill.
The Council to which I have referred, which has been endeavouring to get a Statute, would have preferred the Bill to have gone further than it now does. I know that the hairdressers want their calling to be a good one, and to be as safe as possible for customers. There has at times been a real anxiety throughout the country when unskilled handling, or not sufficiently skilled handling, has resulted in very serious damage, particularly to women.
Years ago it was a question of skin diseases which, unhappily, occurred sometimes after men had visited a barber's shop, but nowadays there is such an advance in the art of hairdressing and all that it entails, including bleaching and dyeing and the use of chemicals, that misuse has at times resulted in complete baldness. [Laughter.] I agree that this may be one of the reasons why some of us have a certain amount of sympathy with those who, as a result of the work of unskilled hands, have a lack of headgear similar to our own.
Some people may think that this is a trivial matter, but it is extremely important and one in which we have to guard the interests of many women who place themselves in the hands of the hairdresser and believe that the skill of the hairdresser is such that at least they will be able to escape avoidable errors. If this is to be achieved, the person concerned must know what he or she is about when treating the hair.
The Hairdressers' Registration Council has taken preliminary steps in this matter. It conducts examinations and grants certificates so that the customer can see the certificate displayed in a shop and will know that the hairdresser is qualified. This process is carried further in 841 the Bill. There will be registration of hairdressers, though it is true that it will be voluntary. This will mean that the customer will know that the skill of the hairdresser has been tested in some manner or another.
The House will be grateful to the hon. Member for Battersea, South (Mr. Partridge) for having introduced the Bill and I have great pleasure in supporting its Third Reading.

§ Dr. Alan Glyn (Clapham)
I am a member of two professions which have very restricted registers and it should be far from me to suggest that other occupations should not also have some form of restrictive register. I first heard of the Bill when someone rang me up and said that on a visit to the barber's he had had caustic soda put on his head and that this had removed all his hair. When he complained, the only satisfaction he had was to be told, "At your age you are lucky to have any hair at all".
As the hon. Member for Leicester, North-West (Sir B. Janner) has said, the task of the hairdresser has increased enormously in recent years. In my view, it falls into two categories. Hairdressers have to deal with cosmetics and also to some extent nowadays they are called upon to perform semi-medical functions. Customers are often sent to the doctor and are told to use certain ointments and dressings.
The trade of barbering has become more technical and specialised. As the hon. Member for Battersea, South (Mr. Partridge) has said, there is increased need for a higher degree of technical skill and training. Certainly, people who go to hairdressing establishments should be entitled to expect some sort of standard from those who practise the trade. I am always against unnecessary restrictions, but far be it from me to say anything disparaging about the Bill. I have not studied it sufficiently carefully and I would not wish to put a spoke in the wheel of my hon. Friend the Member for Battersea, South (Mr. Partridge) in his attempt to improve and safeguard standards.

The Joint Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mr. C. M. Wood-house)
All hon. Members have some 842 degree of interest in the Bill, though the interests of some hon. Members is more abundant and luxurious than that of others. This may be one reason why we had such difficulty with the Bill in its earlier stages. It passed its Second Reading without debate, and Second Reading speeches were made in Committee on the Question that Clause 1 stand part of the Bill. When we came to the Amendments in Clause 2, Third Reading speeches were then made and it might be thought that there was little left to be said about it now. This is by no means the case, because the Amendments made to the Bill in Committee have been so extensive as to alter its whole nature.
While the Hairdressers' Registration Council to be established under the Bill will still have power to maintain a register and to prescribe courses of training or other qualifications required of those who wish their names to be entered on the register, failure to secure registration will no longer debar anyone from continuing to practise hairdressing, as it would have done under the Bill as originally drafted.
Consequential on this, a large number of other Amendments have been made. For instance, there are to be no appeals to the Privy Council against refusal of registration or removal from the register or against the withholding or withdrawal of a person from training courses. All responsibilities have been removed not only from the Privy Council, but also from Ministers, who will not now be required to nominate members to the Council or to supervise its activities in any way. All the penal provisions in the Bill have also been struck out, and while the Council will have a disciplinary committee the fact that registration will be no longer a necessity of trading but only a professional recommendation will effectively remove the Council's sanctions.

§ Dr. Alan Glyn
Does this mean that hairdressers now practising or likely to come into the trade can continue to practise though they may not be accepted as registered by the Council? Will it merely be a case of the customer who goes into the shop saying to himself, "This man is not registered" and having to judge for himself whether the hairdresser is a right and proper person to do the hairdressing?

§ Mr. Woodhouse
Yes, Sir, that is so. The fact of having one's name inscribed on the register will be an indication of standing, but not a legal requirement of the practise of hairdressing.
We are left, therefore, with a purely voluntary organisation which will carry on the pioneering work which has been done by the Hairdressers' Registration Council to promote proper standards of competency. The functions of the new organisation, however, will be more precise than those of the present Council and will be legislatively defined, but the Council will not be able to claim a monopoly for its registered members. This might well be the best approach, but at the same time the House might well question whether it requires legislative backing. What is indisputable is that the Measure now before the House is very different from the one which was given a Second Reading on 28th February.
If the House gives a Third Reading to the Bill today and sends it forward to another place it will then certainly have to be examined very critically to ensure that it is suitably drafted to meet its new purposes. The Committee proceedings were finished only two days ago, so it has not been possible to carry out that scrutiny in the short time since then. I should warn the House that a good deal of amendment may be required.
My hon. Friend has already in Committee, undertaken to introduce at least one further Amendment to Clause 2, and other Amendments will undoubtedly be necessary. For example, it will certainly be necessary to look at the provisions in the First Schedule relating to the constitution of the council, which were chopped about in rather short order at the end of the Committee. My hon. Friend recognises this, of course, though one particular Amendment which he wished to introduce to that Schedule in the Standing Committee, and which would have had the effect of writing the Hairdressers' Registration Clause into the Bill, could hardly be accepted as it stands for reasons which he understands.
For all these reasons it is not possible for me to give an absolutely unqualified blessing to the Bill as it stands before the House today, but in view of 844 the very serious considerations which were put forward in the Standing Committee, and have ben put forward again today in this short debate by my hon. Friend and by the hon. Member for Leicester, North-West (Sir B. Janner) and by my hon. Friend the Member for Clapham (Dr. Alan Glyn), I certainly would not have any intention to advise the House against giving this Bill the crowning glory of the Third Reading.