Hope puts case for Part P

Building regulations minister Phil Hope has promised electrical contractors that the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) will monitor the operation of Part P and amend the regulations if necessary to improve clarity and to make them more workable and cost-effective.

Hope told the audience at the annual dinner of the Electrical Contractors’ Association that the ODPM would keep a close watch on how the new scheme is working. “We could take away certain jobs from the current list of notifiable work if notification is not proportionate to the risk,” said Hope. “Or we may add to the list to prevent particular accidents from occurring.”

The ODPM has set up a Part P forum for the Competent Person scheme operators to sit alongside local authority representatives and the IEE to discuss any changes. It will make proposals for amending the regulations and will ensure that everyone is interpreting the regulations in a consistent way.

Earlier in the event, ECA president Tony Morgan had used his address to urge Hope to be on the lookout for “dilution of standards”, both in respect of the the limited scope schemes for kitchen fitters and the like, as well as problems on the full-scope schemes.

Hope responded by saying: “I understand that the IEE’s EAS Management Committee is currently reviewing the specification for minimum competence requirements – for both the full and defined competence schemes – to make sure that the specification clearly sets out the required standards for registration, and so that there is no room for ambiguity in assessing the competence of applicants.”