Tag: regulation

Former government ministers add their support to SELECT’s campaign for regulation of electrical industry

The groundswell of opinion in favour of the campaign for protection of title for electricians has continued into 2024 with a New Year declaration of support from another four prominent members of the Scottish Parliament.

Former Business and Trade Minister Ivan McKee and ex-Transport Minister Kevin Stewart have both shown their backing for regulation of the industry by signing up to the Wall of Support being spearheaded by SELECT, Scotland’s largest construction trade body.

The duo have been joined by Conservative MSPs Craig Hoy and Oliver Mundell as the long-running campaign continues to attract cross-party support from all political factions.

Mr McKee, SNP MSP for Glasgow Provan, said: “Our future heating and energy demands will be met by technology such as solar panels, battery storage and electric heating, which means that electricians will play an ever-increasing role in all our lives.

“Regulation would provide the reassurance that someone calling themself an electrician was qualified to undertake such work and would also enhance the profession’s status and reputation. That’s why I am backing SELECT’s campaign to regulate electricians by introducing protection of title for the profession of electrician.”

Mr Stewart, who is the SNP MSP for Aberdeen Central, said: “Being an electrician is a safety critical profession, so it vital that only those people with appropriate skills and qualifications carry out such work.

“Using a qualified electrician gives consumers the confidence that they are employing an expert who undertakes continued professional development and regular assessments to ensure they maintain the highest standards of safety and technical integrity at all times.”

Mr Hoy, who represents South Scotland, signed up to the Wall of Support after visiting SELECT headquarters in Penicuik and speaking to senior staff last month.

He said: “There are thousands of people in Scotland claiming to be electricians without adequate training or certification. This is a serious risk to public safety, and we need support in law for qualified electricians.”

Mr Mundell, who holds the Dumfries-shire seat, added: “It is vitally important that consumers are helped to make informed choices whenever they employ an electrician.”

The latest expressions of solidarity follows the addition last year of Labour MSP and businessman Foysol Choudhury and leading construction organisations the Building Safety Group, LINIAN, Flexel and Hager.

SELECT Managing Director Alan Wilson said: “As we enter another year in our long-running campaign, it is particularly heartening to receive even more support from prominent parliamentarians, particularly those who have served in a ministerial capacity.

“AT SELECT, we feel there is a growing understanding of the validity of the case that is being made for electricians, who will be the professionals we turn to as we transition to net zero and an electric future

“The campaign, which focuses on safety in the home and in businesses, has been a long, hard road, but there is a sense that we are entering the end game and we will continue to focus all our efforts in bringing it to a successful conclusion.”

Mr Wilson added: “The new names on the Wall clearly illustrate that, while the campaign is under consideration in the Scottish Parliament, and has Westminster MP support for raising the matter in the House of Commons, support is still very much a live issue.”

By putting their names on a virtual brick in the Wall, supporters are taking a public stance underlines their backing for legislation in Holyrood which would make it an offence for someone to call themselves an electrician when they have no, or inadequate, qualifications.

SELECT has been leading the campaign for years with other industry bodies, including the Scottish Joint Industry Board (SJIB) and Scottish Electrical Charitable Training Trust (SECTT) to ensure that those who work in the industry do so in a safe and competent manner.

As well as more than a third of MSPs, other bodies that have contributed a brick to the wall include Unite the Union, Electrical Safety First, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, the Scottish Association of Landlords, the Specialist Engineering Contractors’ Group and the Energy Saving Trust. 

UK Government cuts ‘red tape’ for thousands of growing businesses

  • More businesses to be categorised as small businesses, meaning less red tape
  • Move will potentially exempt tens of thousands of the UK’s growing businesses from relevant future regulations, saving them thousands of pounds
  • Start of a sweeping package of reforms to cut red tape for business and stimulate growth

Thousands of the UK’s fastest-growing businesses will be released from reporting requirements and other regulations in the future, as part of plans aimed at boosting productivity and supercharging growth, Prime Minister Liz Truss announced yesterday.

Currently, small businesses are presumed to be exempt from certain regulations. However, many medium sized businesses – those with between 50 and 249 employees – still report that they are spending over 22 staff days per month on average dealing with regulation, and over half of all businesses consider regulation to be a burden to their operation [source].

The Prime Minister has announced plans to widen these exemptions to businesses with fewer than 500 employees for future and reviewed regulations, meaning an additional 40,000 businesses will be freed from future bureaucracy and the accompanying paperwork that is expensive and burdensome for all but the largest firms.

The exemption will be applied in a proportionate way to ensure workers’ rights and other standards will be protected, while at the same time reducing the burden for growing businesses.

Regulatory exemptions are often granted for SMEs, which the EU defines at below 250 employees. However, we are free to take our own approach and exempt more businesses to those with under 500 employees. We will also be able to apply this to retained EU law currently under review, which we would not have been able to do without our exit from the EU.

The changed threshold will apply from today (Monday 3 October) to all new regulations under development as well as those under current and future review, including retained EU laws. The Government will also look at plans to consult in the future on potentially extending the threshold to businesses with 1000 employees, once the impact on the current extension is known.

This is the first step in a package of reforms to ensure UK business regulation works for the UK economy. The reforms will harness the freedoms the UK has since leaving the EU to remove bureaucratic and burdensome regulations on businesses, while streamlining and making it easier for them to comply with existing rules, ultimately saving them valuable time and money.

Rogue electricians risk the lives of Scottish homeowners

New safety measures are needed to protect Scottish homeowners from electrocution and electrical fires, lawyers have warned.

“Currently anyone can set up as an electrician in Scotland,” said Gordon Dalyell a Scottish spokesman for APIL, an organisation which is dedicated to the rights of needlessly injured people.

“There is no requirement to have any skills, qualifications, or expertise in electrical work before setting up a business as an electrician in Scotland. Homeowners must be protected from substandard electrical work, which could lead to injuries or even deaths from electric shocks or electrical fires.”

In response to a Scottish government consultation, APIL has called for a system similar to the widely recognised Gas Safety Register to be implemented to ensure all electricians are qualified for the work they carry out.

“A mandatory safety register for electricians would give people the confidence of knowing their electrician is fully qualified to carry out the work,” said Mr Dalyell.

“Electricians would be unable to join the register without proper qualifications and training. No one would make the decision to use an unqualified gas company. Electricity safety should be taken just as seriously.”

Until proper regulation and specific qualification requirements are in place, Scots looking for a safe, qualified expert to carry out work should look out for electricians or electrical businesses which have voluntarily registered with the regulatory systems listed below:

  • Scottish Joint Industry Board
  • SELECT (Electrical Contractors’ Association of Scotland) is a trade association for the electrical contracting industry in Scotland.
  • NICEIC (the National Inspection Council for Electrical Installation Contracting) is a registration body that provides assessment and certification services for contractors.
  • NAPIT (National Association of Professional Inspectors and Testers) operates an accredited membership scheme in the building services and fabric sector.

Buy Now, Pay Later schemes: financial regulator to intervene

The FCA has published a report on change and innovation in the unsecured consumer credit market following a Review by its former Interim Chief Executive, Christopher Woolard CBE.

Read the Woolard Review

The Woolard Review sets out how regulation can better support a healthy market for unsecured lending, taking into account the impact of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, changing business models and new developments in unregulated buy-now pay-later (BNPL) unsecured lending. The Review was commissioned by the FCA Board.

Christopher Woolard, Chair of the Review, said: ‘Most of us will use credit at some point in our lives. So, it’s vital that we have a fair market that works for everyone. New ways of borrowing and the impact of the pandemic are changing the market, with billions of pounds now in unregulated transactions and millions of consumers at greater risk of financial difficulty.

‘Changes are urgently needed: to bring BNPL into regulation to protect consumers; to ensure that there is secure provision of debt advice to help all those who may need it; and to maintain a sustained regulatory response to the pandemic.

‘Alongside these urgent issues the Review sets out a series of recommendations for how the FCA, working with partners, can build a better market in future.’

UK households have nearly £250 billion of outstanding consumer credit debt and more than 42.5 million people used consumer credit in 2019.

The Review sets out 26 recommendations to the FCA, sometimes working with Government and other bodies, to make the unsecured credit market fit for the future, including:

  • The regulation of unregulated buy-now pay-later: BNPL products which are currently exempt from regulation should be brought within the regulatory perimeter as a matter of urgency. The use of BNPL products nearly quadrupled in 2020 and is now at £2.7 billion, with 5 million people using these products since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. The emergence and expansion of unregulated BNPL products gives consumers a significant alternative to more expensive credit, but this also comes with significant potential for consumer harm. For example, more than one in ten customers of a major bank using BNPL were already in arrears. Regulation would protect people who use BNPL products and make the market sustainable.
  • Debt advice: The provision of debt advice will be critical to a sustainable market in the long term, especially through the recovery from coronavirus. Free debt advice services need secure, long-term funding as demand increases to as many as 1.5 million additional cases, following the pandemic. Funding needs to be in place to help the poorest pay fees when applying for debt relief orders.
  • Forbearance: The FCA responded quickly and effectively in the emergency phase of the pandemic – it needs to sustain this response through the recovery, for example by looking at whether it should revise its rules and guidance to drive greater consistency in the type of support firms offer consumers struggling to pay.
  • Alternatives to high-cost credit: A sustainable credit market needs more alternatives to high-cost credit. The FCA should work with the Government and Bank of England to reform the regulation of credit unions and Community Development Finance Institutions. More should be done to encourage mainstream lenders into this space.
  • Outcomes focused: Regulation should be driven by the outcome being sought and how consumers use products in the real world. Regulation should deliver similar protections where consumers face similar harms. In addition to making sure products are affordable, there should be an increased focus on lenders meeting consumers needs’ for as long as they hold the product. The FCA should review repeat lending. 

The FCA welcomes the Woolard Review report into change and innovation in the unsecured credit market and supports the recommendations directed to the FCA. The Board agrees that there is a strong and pressing case to bring buy-now pay-later business into regulation.

Charles Randell has written to the Economic Secretary to the Treasury setting out the Board’s view and proposing that the FCA works with the Government to design the appropriate regulation.

Ensuring consumer credit markets work well is one of the FCA’s five priorities. The Board has asked the FCA executive to build the Review’s recommendations into its business planning. The FCA will publish its 2021/22 Business Plan in April, and will give further details of the response to the Review.

Charles Randell, Chair at the FCA, said: ‘Unaffordable credit can damage the lives of people who are already struggling to manage everyday expenses. While we have made progress in reducing unaffordable debt in the years before coronavirus, the pandemic has had an unequal impact on households.

“Many people have been able to reduce their debts, but some of the poorest in our society have exhausted any savings or run up more debts. All the authorities which cover debt and debt advice must act together systematically to prevent problem debt and to help people get out of a spiral of debt through properly funded debt advice.

‘Regulation should be consistent and the Review shows how we can ensure high standards in consumer credit regardless of the form of credit.

‘The Review has powerful recommendations on debt advice and insolvency including on the IVA market. We are ready to work with other regulators to reduce the harm that IVAs can produce for people that use them, and to reduce the scope for unscrupulous operators to prey on vulnerable indebted people through for-profit debt packaging.

‘As the market innovates and changes, regulators and legislators need to respond quickly and decisively to protect consumers by facilitating credit where it is beneficial and clamping down on it when it does harm. The FCA agrees that there is a strong and pressing case to bring buy-now pay-later business into regulation.’

SJIB: ‘overwhelming support’ for regulation of electricians

The Scottish Joint Industry Board (SJIB) says there is now “overwhelming industry support” for regulation of the electrical industry and is urging more professionals to make their voices heard.

The leading construction body insists protection of title is vital to protect consumers across Scotland – and points to a recent consultation in which 90% of respondents said they were in favour of the measure.

The consultation by MSP Jamie Halcro Johnston, which closed in November, received 141 submissions, 121 of which were fully supportive, 10 partially supportive, one neutral, three partially opposed and only three opposed.

Fiona Harper, The Secretary of the SJIB, said: “It was heartening to see such a high level of responses from a wide cross-section of the industry and to see so many organisations and individual electricians taking a real interest in the future of our industry.

“It was equally pleasing to see that the vast majority of the responses have been positive about the need for some form of regulation, and that there is overwhelming support for protection of title for the profession of electrician.

“The responses show that there is a real appetite to deliver a bill through the Scottish Parliament as soon as possible to secure the safety of consumers and the integrity of the electrical sector in Scotland.”

Ms Harper, who is also Director of Employment & Skills at SELECT, the trade association, also urged electrician to take part in a second consultation on regulation, launched by Jamie Hepburn, MSP, the Minister for Business, Fair work and Skills, which closes on 12 February.

She added: “These consultations are a major step towards a safer industry and we look forward to welcoming a new dawn for electricians and their customers in Scotland.

“At present, anyone can claim to be an electrician and work on an electrical installation. It cannot be right that those who have completed a full apprenticeship and who work in the industry in a safe and competent manner, can be compromised by those who call themselves electricians but who have no or inadequate qualifications.

“Industry research suggests that the net benefits to Scotland from proper regulation of electricians will total around £58million. We would also benefit from higher electrical standards, a reduction in the number of injuries and deaths, better functioning installations, less need for call backs or for poor/unsafe work to be repaired, leading to improved customer satisfaction.”

The first consultation was set up by Highland and Islands MSP Mr Halcro Johnston in a bid to present a case for regulation in advance of a proposed Holyrood Member’s Bill.

The Bill would be the culmination of a long-running campaign by the SJIB, SELECT and other leading industry bodies to make sure that those who work in the industry do so in a safe and competent manner.

SELECT has spent the past few years campaigning with other leading trade bodies for the introduction of regulation, with its many supporters listed on the online Wall of Support.

In its own response to the consultation, the SJIB said regulation would “significantly enhance consumer, client and public protection and safety while deterring unqualified individuals”.

The body, which sets the standards for employment and apprentice training in the electrical contracting sector, also said any new scheme would bring significant economic benefits and would assist in the drive for a “sustainable skills base”.

In the response, Ms Harper said: “The promotion and utilisation of registered electrical contractors with industry-recognised qualifications would address the scale of poorly installed, defective and unsafe electrical work.

“The SJIB already administers the ECS [Electrotechnical Certification Scheme] which accommodates and recognises the diverse array of electricians operating within the electrotechnical industry. With some additional safeguards, the SJIB could develop a very robust scheme at little additional cost.”

Founded in 1969 by SELECT and Unite the Union, the SJIB’s duties include regulating between employers and employees, providing benefits for people engaged in the industry, and stimulating industry progress. In addition, it has oversight of employment, skills and proficiency, health and safety competence, wages and welfare benefits across the electrical industry in Scotland.

NSPCC lays out six tests to create world-leading laws to protect children online

  • Charity at the forefront of the Online Harms Bill urges UK Government to deliver on Boris Johnson’s determination for ambitious regulation
  • NSPCC sets 11th hour demand for Government: ‘Pass our tests for online regulation so children don’t continue to suffer avoidable harm and abuse’
  • Online sex crimes recorded against children in Scotland surpass five a day; as Ian Russell backs calls for Bill to also tackle suicide and self-harm posts

The NSPCC has laid out six tests the UK Government’s regulation of social media will be judged on if it is to achieve bold and lasting protections for children online.

The charity’s How to win the Wild West Web report, released today, sets out how the upcoming Online Harms Bill must set the global standard in protecting children on the web.

With crucial decisions just days away, the charity is urging the UK Government to ensure it levels the playing field for children, and new laws finally force tech firms to tackle the avoidable harm caused by their sites.

The call comes after figures released by Police Scotland show the number of online sex crimes against children recorded by the force during lockdown (April – June) reached the equivalent of more than five a day – a 20% increase on the same quarter last year.

The pandemic is likely to result in long-term changes to the online child abuse threat, with high-risk livestreaming and video chat becoming more popular. Changes to working patterns, meaning more offenders working at home, could result in a greater demand for sexual abuse images and increased opportunities for grooming.

The NSPCC has routinely highlighted the growing levels of abuse and harm caused to children on social media platforms, and believes the problem has been exacerbated by the fallout from coronavirus.

At the UK Government’s Hidden Harms summit earlier this year, the Prime Minister signalled his personal determination to legislate for ambitious regulation that successfully combats child abuse.

But the NSPCC is worried the landmark opportunity to change the landscape for children online could be missed if this is not translated by the UK Government into law.

The charity has released its six tests ahead of a full consultation response to the White Paper, amid concerns Ministers are wavering in their ambitions for robust regulation.

Regulation must:

  1. Create an expansive, principles-based duty of care
  2. Comprehensively tackle online sexual abuse
  3. Put legal but harmful content on an equal footing with illegal material
  4. Have robust transparency and investigatory powers
  5. Hold industry to account with criminal and financial sanctions
  6. Give civil society a legal voice for children with user advocacy arrangements

The charity believes, if done correctly, regulation could set a British model that leads the world in child protection online.

But in a stark warning, NSPCC CEO Peter Wanless, said: “Failing to pass any of the six tests will mean that rather than tech companies paying the cost of their inaction, future generations of children will pay with serious harm and sexual abuse that could have been stopped.

“Industry inaction is fuelling sex crimes against children and the fallout from coronavirus has heightened the risks of abuse now and in the future.

“The Prime Minister has the chance of a lifetime to change this by coming down on the side of children and families, with urgent regulation that is a bold and ambitious UK plan to truly change the landscape of online child protection.

“The Online Harms Bill must become a Government priority, with unwavering determination to take the opportunity to finally end the avoidable, serious harm children face online because of unaccountable tech firms.”

The six tests are backed by Ian Russell, who has campaigned for regulation since the death of his daughter, Molly, by suicide, after she was targeted with self-harm posts on social media.

Mr Russell, who is due to be made an Honorary Member of Council for the NSPCC this week, said: “Today, I can’t help but wonder why it’s taking so long to introduce effective regulation to prevent the type of harmful social media posts we now know Molly saw, and liked, and saved in the months prior to her death.

“Tech self-regulation has failed and, as I know, it’s failed all too often at great personal cost. Now is the time to establish a regulator to protect those online by introducing proportionate legislation with effective financial and criminal sanctions.

“It is a necessary step forward in trying to reclaim the web for the good it can do and curtail the growing list of harms to be found online.”

The six tests the Government must pass if it is to create game-changing and lasting protections for children online are:

  • An expansive, principles-based duty of care; tech firms should have a legal responsibility to identify harms caused by their sites and deal with them, or face tough consequences for breaching regulation.
  • Tackling online sexual abuse; platforms must proactively and consistently tackle grooming and abuse images facilitated by dangerous design features. There must be no excuses. In the current state of play abuse images have been left online with the excuse that a child’s age cannot be proven, and images signposting abuse are not removed.
  • Tackling legal but harmful content; current Government proposals will see companies set their own rules on legal but harmful content. This is not good enough. The law must compel firms to respond to the harms caused by algorithms targeting damaging suicide and self-harm posts at children and avoid a two-tier system that prioritises tacking illegal content. The danger of harmful content should rightly be balanced against freedom of expression, but focus on the risk to children.
  • Transparency and investigation powers; tech firms currently only dish out information they want the public to see. The regulator must have the power to lift up the bonnet to investigate platforms and demand information from companies.
  • Criminal and financial sanctions; fines are vital but will be water off a duck’s back to some of the world’s wealthiest companies. Government can’t backslide on a named manager scheme that gives the regulator powers to prosecute rogue tech directors in UK law.
  • User advocacy arrangements; to level the playing field there must be strong civil society voice for children against well-resourced industry pressure. Big tech should be made to clean up the damage they have caused by funding user advocacy arrangements.

The NSPCC has been the leading voice for social media regulation and the charity set out detailed proposals for an Online Harms Bill last year, which informed much of  the White Paper.

The Government has said the consultation response will be published in the autumn, with legislation expected to be delivered in the new year.

Local MSP supports SELECT campaign

Almost one third of Scotland’s MSPs have now given their support to SELECT’s campaign for regulating the profession of electrician after two more politicians added their names to the electrical trade body’s Wall of Support.

Local MSP Lib-Dem MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton (above) and SNP MP Alan Brown this week became the latest politicians to feature on the online wall, which shows the many individuals and organisations supporting SELECT’s crusade for Protection of Title.

Mr Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, said: “I agree that poor quality electrical work carries huge risks to people’s homes, their businesses and even their lives.  It is vitally important that consumers are helped to make informed choices when they employ an electrician.”

41 out of 129 MSPs now back the association’s call for legislation which would make it an offence for someone to call themselves an electrician when they have no, or inadequate, qualifications. 

Mr Brown, Westminster MP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun said: “I am delighted to support SELECT’s campaign to regulate the electrical industry. It is a massive step in the right direction which protects my constituents and businesses within my constituency when using electricians.

“As an engineer I appreciate the protection of professional qualifications. It will ensure constituents and businesses get exactly what the pay for when hiring an electrician to carry out and keep themselves safe from faulty work.

“Far too much public cash is being spent on repairing faulty electrical work, I believe the regulation of the electric industry will reduce this significantly – that is why I am happy to work cross-party with other members and support SELECT’s campaign.”

SELECT Managing Director Alan Wilson, said: “We are grateful for all the support we have received, across parties, from our politicians and, despite the difficulties all sectors of the economy are currently facing, we remain firm in our belief that our ongoing campaign to make electrician a regulated profession will ultimately succeed.

“Once we are through the worst of this pandemic, the need for properly qualified electricians will be more important than ever to help Scotland rebuild and recover safely.”

Other bodies that have contributed a brick to SELECT’s Wall of Support include the Scottish Joint Industry Board (SJIB), Unite the Union, Electrical Safety First, The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, the Scottish Association of Landlords, the Specialist Engineering Contractors’ Group and the Energy Saving Trust.

The issue is now progressing through the Scottish Parliament and, before the COVID-19 pandemic, a Member’s Bill was being prepared for discussion later this year.

The Scottish Government has also pledged to publish a consultation on the regulation of electricians as part of its 2019-20 Programme for Government, which was released in September 2019.