Information Regarding Involvement by SQA in the Scottish Cosmetic Interventions Expert Group or Related Scottish Government Work

Date published: 13/08/2026

FOI reference: FOI26/27 044

Date received: 16/07/2026

Date responded: 11/08/2026

Information requested

Please treat this email as a request for recorded information under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

This request concerns any involvement by the Scottish Qualifications Authority in the Scottish Cosmetic Interventions Expert Group, its sub-groups, or related Scottish Government work concerning qualifications and training for non-surgical cosmetic procedures.

Please provide the following recorded information held from 1 December 2020 to the date of this request.

The names and job titles of any SQA employees, representatives, contractors or advisers who attended, advised or contributed to:

a. the Scottish Cosmetic Interventions Expert Group;

b. any SCIEG sub-group;

c. any related Scottish Government meeting, advisory group or workstream concerning non-surgical cosmetic procedures, qualifications or practitioner competence.

The dates and titles of the meetings attended and, where recorded, each person’s status as a member, observer, adviser, presenter or other participant.
Copies of any declarations of interest completed in connection with that participation.
Copies of any advice, reports, briefings, presentations, submissions or recommendations supplied by the SQA concerning:

a. qualifications for non-surgical cosmetic procedures;

b. qualification levels for procedures within Groups 1, 2 or 3;

c. Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework levels;

d. Level 4, Level 5, Level 6 or Level 7 aesthetics qualifications;

e. recognition of existing qualifications;

f. recognition of prior learning;

g. credit transfer;

h. bridging or conversion courses;

i. grandfathering or transitional arrangements;

j. healthcare professional-only entry requirements;

k. pathways for independent aesthetic practitioners;

l. competence assessment for experienced practitioners.

Any correspondence between the SQA and the Scottish Government concerning:

a. the Non-surgical Procedures and Functions of Medical Reviewers (Scotland) Act 2026;

b. the Bill that preceded the Act;

c. secondary legislation, standards, guidance or implementation arrangements arising from the Act;

d. qualifications or training requirements under the proposed regulatory framework.

Any correspondence concerning qualifications for non-surgical cosmetic procedures with:

a. Glasgow Caledonian University;

b. the University of the West of Scotland;

c. City of Glasgow College;

d. Healthcare Improvement Scotland;

e. the Scottish Medical Aesthetics Safety Group;

f. the Joint Council for Cosmetic Practitioners;

g. Professor David Sines;

h. the British Association of Beauty Therapy and Cosmetology;

i. the General Medical Council;

j. the Nursing and Midwifery Council;

k. the General Dental Council;

l. the General Pharmaceutical Council;

m. the Health and Care Professions Council;

n. any awarding organisation, college, university, training provider or voluntary register.

Any records identifying proposed or existing qualifications that were considered suitable for practitioners performing non-surgical cosmetic procedures.

For each qualification considered, please provide, where recorded:

a. the qualification title;

b. awarding organisation;

c. qualification level;

d. procedure or treatment scope;

e. whether it was accepted, rejected or considered insufficient;

f. the reason for that decision.

Any recorded assessment of existing regulated qualifications held by independent aesthetic practitioners, including qualifications at Levels 4 to 7.
Any recorded distinction between:

a. the academic or vocational level of a qualification;

b. professional registration as a doctor, nurse, dentist, pharmacist or other healthcare professional;

c. practical competence to perform a particular procedure;

d. legal entitlement to perform that procedure.

Any recorded discussion concerning whether a person holding an appropriate aesthetics qualification should also be required to hold statutory healthcare professional registration.
Any recorded evidence relied upon when considering healthcare professional-only access to qualifications or regulated procedures.
Any recorded assessment of whether excluding experienced independent practitioners from future qualification pathways would:

a. create an unnecessary barrier to training;

b. prevent recognition of existing competence;

c. cause business closure or loss of livelihood;

d. favour universities or healthcare professional-only courses;

e. create equality, fairness or competition concerns.

Any records concerning the development, approval or consideration of new qualifications for non-surgical cosmetic procedures, including:

a. proposed qualification titles;

b. draft specifications;

c. units or learning outcomes;

d. assessment requirements;

e. entry requirements;

f. clinical placement requirements;

g. consultation responses;

h. approval or validation records;

i. expected implementation dates.

Any recorded discussion concerning whether existing practitioners would be required to retrain or repeat learning already covered by qualifications they currently hold.
Any impact assessment, equality assessment, economic assessment, competition assessment or workforce assessment relating to proposed qualification requirements.
Any records identifying organisations or individuals invited to contribute to the development of qualification requirements and the basis upon which they were selected.
Any recorded consideration of whether independent aesthetic practitioners or organisations representing them should be consulted directly.

To keep this request proportionate, I am not requesting duplicate copies of identical documents. One copy of each relevant record will be sufficient.

I am content for private residential addresses, personal telephone numbers, personal email addresses, signatures and unrelated personal contact information to be redacted.

Please provide the information electronically by return email.

Where information is already publicly available, please provide the precise webpage or document reference.

Response

Please find attached our response to your requests for information. The attached word document, entitled ‘Response Document’, contains the responses to the requests you submitted.

We have also attached documents relevant to your requests. Please note that to avoid duplication with other requests submitted by you, the attached documents also relate to the requests reference FOI26/27 045 and FOI26/27 046 that we received from you. As much of the relevant information is similar in the requests it was considered better to only include them with one of the responses.

As there are a number of documents to be attached, we are sending them over three emails to avoid possible issues. There are 20 documents in total and they are number 1-19 along with a listing of the attached documents. Numbers 1-6 are attached to this email, along with the list of attachments.

Please note that we redact the names and identifying information of staff below Head of Service level and non-Qualifications Scotland people, under section 38 (1)(b) of the Act as it is considered personal information.

We have also provided a link to previous requests we had received relating to non-surgical cosmetics, which we think may be of interest. This is available on our Disclosure Log using the following links:

FOI25/26 264 Details of the Memorandum of Understanding between SQA and the Joint Council for Cosmetic Practitioners - Qualifications Scotland

FOI25/26 276 Information Relating to the Memorandum of Understanding - Qualifications Scotland

FOI26/27 034 Communications Between SQA and the Joint Council for Cosmetic Practitioners. - Qualifications Scotland

Documents:

FOI26-27 044 - 1205 AS SVQ Advanced Skin Therapy Practices L8 (294 KB)

FOI26-27 044 - 1205 CSS SVQ Advanced skin therapy practices L8 (198 KB)
FOI26-27 044 - 1205 CSS SVQ Advanced skin therapy practices L8 (22 KB)
FOI26-27 044 - 3045 - VTCT Letter West Lothian_Redacted (436 KB)
FOI26-27 044 - 20250728 Accred.CR AestheticTreatments(VTCT)_Redacted (95 KB)
FOI26-27 044 - AC2_Form_BT7SC1_June_2025 Adv Aesthetic Treatments L7 - Redacted (94 KB)

FOI26-27 044 - Asthetics SCQF 7 DA_2024 Dundee_Redacted (237 KB)