A Private Member’s Bill attempting to create a compulsory licence scheme for the building trade has been withdrawn.
image: for illustration purposes only – Open Government Licence v3.0
… simply can’t be right in a modern economy that anyone can call themselves a builder without any form of licensing or registration…
The Construction Index writes:
The Domestic Building Works (Consumer Protection) Bill was presented to the House of Commons by backbench Conservative MP Mark Garnier on Friday 19th November for its second reading, only to be withdrawn without being put to a vote due to lack of government support.
Mark Garnier, MP for Wyre Forest, argued that requiring licences for builders would address problems of incompetent and rogue builders within the domestic repair, maintenance and improvement sector.
However, when construction minister Lee Rowley flatly refused government support for the creation of such a bureaucratic regime, Mr Garnier withdrew his Bill.
The minister said: “The question always comes back to the philosophical discussion that we have daily in this place: what we think the government should do, when they should intervene and when it is proportionate to do so….”
He added: “Although, I am afraid to say, on balance we as a government are not minded to support the Bill at this time, we are very keen to continue to discuss this…”
Instead, he said, the government had recently consulted on proposals for a mandatory alternative disputes resolution scheme…. It is also requiring TrustMark registration for its domestic decarbonisation retrofit programme.
The Federation of Master Builders (FMB), which has been leading the campaign for a licensing scheme…
FMB chief executive Brian Berry said:….
“It simply can’t be right in a modern economy that anyone can call themselves a builder without any form of licensing or registration to check they are competent. This is not only a serious question of consumer protection, but also one of promoting economic growth in the building industry.”
