All-Party Parliamentary Group on Beauty and Wellbeing Reinstated for 2022

Last week, the APPG held its Annual General Meeting to reinstate the Group, re-elect its officers, and agree the work programme for the year ahead.

The 2022-23 APPG list of officers is as follows:

Carolyn Harris MP, Labour MP for Swansea East – Co-Chair

Judith Cummins MP – Co-Chair

Caroline Nokes MP – Vice Chair

Peter Dowd MP – Treasurer

Nick Smith MP – Secretary

The MPs agreed the purpose of the APPG on Beauty and Wellbeing is to highlight and celebrate the British beauty and wellbeing industry in Parliament, tackle the prejudice it experiences, and provide a forum to explore the challenges facing the industry and what government action is needed to overcome those issues.

The MPs discussed their priorities and workplan for the year ahead.

• Following the Government’s milestone announcement of a licensing scheme for non-surgical cosmetic treatments, as recommended by the APPG in its 2021 inquiry and report on the subject, the MPs will continuing to lobby on the licensing amendment to the Health and Care Bill to ensure this is not watered down and ensure the regulations cover the wide range of necessary treatments that need to be adequately regulated. They  will also continue efforts to lobby the Government to deliver on the wider recommendations made in the APPG’s report in order to support the industry and protect consumers.

• The Group will continue to place a focus on the ‘Power of Beauty & Wellbeing’ and work to grow the recognition of the sectors in Parliament and with Government. This will also include a focus on the wider post-covid landscape such as maintaining consumer confidence and how to address ongoing post-Covid and -Brexit skills issues. The MPs agreed the APPG would run a panel series on this subject, to explore industry issues, such as:
  • Beauty and sustainability
  • The importance of complementary therapies and wellbeing
  • The science behind the beauty: women in STEM
  • Female leaders and entrepreneurship
  • Beauty, diversity & inclusion
  • Beauty battling cancer

• And finally, the APPG will continue to support the charity Beauty Banks and highlight hygiene poverty in Parliament. They will focus on the importance of personal care products to physical health, mental health and wellbeing, and explore what can be done to end hygiene poverty in the UK. They also plan to engage their parliamentary colleagues to encourage MPs to support the charity in their constituencies.

DGA Interel will continue to provide administrative support to the APPG as Secretariat with the support of the National Hair and Beauty Federation and spabreaks.com as sponsors.

APPGs are cross-party groups of MPs and Peers with a shared interest in a particular issue they would like to raise in Parliament and with Government. Though they are run by and for Members of the Commons and Lords, many choose to involve outside organisations for advice and administration.

For further information, please do not hesitate to contact the Group’s secretariat on appg_bawUK@interelgroup.com. You can find out more about the APPG on here and on Twitter.