Communities and Local Government CommitteeWritten evidence submitted by Andy White

I am a self employed electrician and I am dismayed at the way our industry is going I am not against regulation but as far as I am concerned there are too many fingers in the pies and below is a few points:

1.There are too many registration companies within the industry who in my view are more interested in collecting members fees rather than police their own members. There should be one registration company that each person or business pays into and their registration should be made public ie on the web where the public can view an individual’s qualifications and even if they have Public and Professional liability insurance the Joint Industry Board in England and Wales plus the Scottish Joint Industry Board would be in a good position to manage and operate this system.

I would point to the DVLC system that allows an individual to purchase road tax for a vehicle but the system can check if the vehicle has current MOT and insurance.

2.The registration companies already offer training and have an input into changing the regulations and this should be their main brief.

3.Also the review and changes to the electrical regulations is a big cost to small businesses as publications have to be replaced for them to comply we should look at the American system where amendments are printed and the relevant regulation sections could be changed. The current EICR/PIR debacle is an example of too many cooks scenario.

4.Also to say that every electrical business or individual who runs one must be registered with one of the registration companies is I feel breaking the European law on free trade as a individual who has the necessary qualifications and insurance cover does comply in my view with British and European law.

5.If safety is the main priority we could go the same way as the GAS Safe system but if this is felt to be too constraining then the committee may want to look into retailers who basically can sell any electrical equipment to the members of the public in other words Joe Public can buy a fuseboard and if he or she wants to can attempt to change it him or herself this make any regulations a farce where we are saying only a competent qualified person should do this but we will sell you a fuseboard anyway. So why not limit this to Joe public can purchase replacement lights sockets switches but to purchase a fuseboard then a JIB or SJIB card with the electricians picture and qualifications are listed should be presented.

January 2012