Christopher Leslie, the minister in charge of the Building Regulations, has expressed concern that a spat between two industry groups may upset the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's plan to introduce a new section of the regulations next year.
The parties to the dispute are the Electrical Contractors Association and the National Inspection Council for Electrical Installation Contracting. The regulation in question is the forthcoming Part P, which deals with the safety of electrical installation.

The minister is worried because, as he told parliament last week, Part P can only be implemented if the industry has a self-certification system in place.

However, the two bodies back different schemes. The ECA is backing the Electrotechnical Assessment Scheme (EAS), whereas the NICEIC has its own scheme.

Self-certification is part of the government’s drive to reduce red tape

A spokesperson for the NICEIC said: "We've got Part P tied up; anybody that is NICEIC-registered is competent to self-certify under Part P".