1 Introduction
1. It is a testament to the success of our system
of building control that it is not often in the news because,
for the most part, we have sound arrangements to ensure that buildings
are well constructed and safe. Building Regulations are at the
centre of the system, and scrutiny of Building Regulations falls
within our responsibility. This is our second report on building
control in this parliament. The stimulus for our first report,
Building Regulations applying to electrical and gas installation
and repairs in dwellings, was a Government review in 2012
of the Building Regulations.[1]
As a result of that work we decided, as well as pressing for the
implementation of our recommendations and findings, to monitor
developments.[2]
Follow-up oral evidence session
on 2 September 2013
2. Domestic electrical work was brought within the
building control system in 2005 by the introduction of Part P
of the Building Regulations. The 2005 change would have potentially
brought many thousands of domestic electrical works and operations
into the notification and inspection processes of the building
control system. As an alternative to submitting a building regulation
application to the local authority or having to use an approved
inspector for approval under Part P, the Government favoured the
use of a competent persons mechanism approved by it. The competent
persons scheme is intended to be the main delivery mechanism for
ensuring compliance with Part P in order that the burdens of this
requirement on established and well-operated electrical businesses
and on local authority building control departments is minimised.
The competent persons scheme is meant to allow those businesses
which are providing a competent service on the doorstep of the
consumer the reward of exemption from the bureaucracy of a formal
building regulation application and inspection. The arrangement
would provide building regulation self-certification for those
with recognised levels of competence who would submit themselves
to membership of a self-regulating scheme. For the arrangement
to operate effectively, public awareness of the competent person
route is crucial. Following from our work in 2012, we had a concern
that the bodies which certify domestic electrical work lacked
a single website or brand and that this was not only holding back
public understanding but also impairing the Government's approach
of self-certification. We, like most of the public, found the
alphabet soup of acronyms and initials of the organisations in
the sector—NICEIC, NAPIT, Certsure, ELECSA, Benchmark, BSI,
BESCA, OFTEC, Stroma, APHC—confusing. We asked that the
organisations to consider launching and maintaining a single brand.
3. We took oral evidence on 2 September 2013 from
the bodies that had a major responsibility, in our view, to provide
a single register.[3] A
number of those who watched the webcast of the session wrote to
express concern about the operation of the schemes.[4]
The nature of these submissions was such that we concluded that
further scrutiny was called for, to establish whether the matters
raised were isolated problems or pointed to wider, systemic inadequacies
within the competent persons schemes for Part P.
CALL FOR WRITTEN SUBMISSIONS
4. On 23 October we invited representations explaining
that we were keen to establish:
· the extent to which members of the public
were aware of the competent persons schemes and that certain domestic
electrical works needed to be reviewed and certified to meet the
requirements of Building Regulations;
· the extent to which those carrying out
electrical works were adequately trained to meet the requirements
of the Building Regulations and the extent to which all those
working for a company were brought up to the same level of skills;
· the extent to which those carrying out
electrical works, to which the Building Regulations apply, reviewed
or had their work reviewed to ensure that it met the requirements
of the Regulations;
· the adequacy of the review of electrical
works carried out by Competent Persons;
· the effect of competition between accreditation
bodies, and the two separate registers of electricians, on the
standards of review of domestic electrical work; and
· the adequacy of the supervision by the
Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) of the
accreditation schemes.
This report
5. We received over 75 written submissions. Having
reviewed the contents we decided to take the matter further and
to take oral evidence. We held two oral evidence sessions in January
2014, inviting five people who had submitted written evidence,
witnesses from the relevant electrical organisations and the Government.
We are grateful to all those who gave oral evidence, and we would
also like to thank our specialist adviser, David McCullough.[5]
6. Our further work has identified three areas where
we have concerns and where we call for changes. First, the competent
persons schemes underpinning Part P need a programme of improvement
and we set out, in chapter 3, our concerns and the changes we
consider are needed. Second, in chapter 4 we review public awareness
of the competent persons schemes and we return to the question
of a single brand and register of electrical contractors operating
within the competent persons schemes. Finally, enforcement, or
the lack of it, worried us and we set out our concerns and recommendation
for changes in chapter 0. We start, however, in chapter 5, by
returning to one of the main issues we addressed in our March
2012 report: the Government's proposed changes to Part P. The
Government announced its conclusions in December 2012.[6]
It decided to make changes to the scope of works that were notifiable
and thus fell under building control by virtue of Part P. The
changes came into force on 6 April 2013 and we therefore start
with those changes in the next chapter.[7]
1 Communities and Local Government Committee, Tenth
Report of Session 2010-12, Building Regulations applying to electrical and gas installation and repairs in dwellings,
HC 1851-I, para 4 and following Back
2
As well as the operation of the competent persons schemes, which
is the main focus of this report, we made a recommendation that
sockets and other electrical equipment sold by DIY stores should
carry a health warning that it was illegal for an unregistered
person to carry out most electrical works in the home without
checks being completed to ensure compliance with building control
(para 49, HC (2010-12) 1851-I). We have followed this recommendation
up with the British Retail Consortium, co-ordinating for the major
electrical retailers, which has produced working to alert consumers
to the requirements of building control. We are monitoring implementation
and may return the issue before the end of the parliament. Back
3
Oral evidence taken on 2 September 2013, HC (2013-14) 829-i Back
4
Arcus Electrics Ltd (BRC 12), Skelton Electrical Ltd (BRC 11),
Scott Electrotechnical Assessment Link Ltd (BRC 10), Bailey Pollock
Electrical Services Ltd (BRC 09), Astute Technical Services Ltd
(BRC 08), That's Electric! Ltd (BRC 06), Benjamin Lenyk (BRC 05),
AEW Electrical (Edinburgh) (BRC 03), ElecInfo Ltd (BRC 07) and
Dr Robert Judson (BRC 02) Back
5
Employment as Group Director, TPS, a multi-disciplinary design
consultancy (architects, engineers, project managers and surveyors
- including an arm's length Approved Inspector Building Control
Body, Carillion Specialist Services); TPS is part of the Carillion
group. Building Regulations advisor to Royal Institution of Chartered
Surveyors (RICS); RICS Governing Council member and member of
RICS Knowledge Board. Director of the Building Control Alliance,
a pan sector Building Control organisation aiming to give a unified
voice. on non-sector related building control issues; representation
on behalf of RICS, other members are LABC (Local Authority Building
Control), ACAI (Association of Consultant Approved Inspectors),
ABE (Association of Building Engineers) and CIOB (Chartered Institute
of Building). Chairman of Industry Group commenting on closing
the compliance gap in the area of Building Regulations (Energy
Conservation Regulations).Trustee of KnowHow North East, Stockton
on Tees, a youth work charity. Trustee of Norton (Teesside) Sports
Complex, a sports based charity. Back
6
HC Deb, 18 December 2012, cols 83-84WS [Commons written ministerial
statement]; see also DCLG, 2012 consultation on changes to the Building Regulations in England: Summary of responses,
18 December 2012 and para 8 below. Back
7
DCLG (BRC 44), para 3 Back
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