On 2006-11-23 15:38:17 +0000, said:

wrote:
dennis@home wrote:

Part P wasn't designed to cut accidents.

But that was presented as part of the justification for it.

of course, the public would have objected if theyd said it was a tax
gathering move. So they made something up to obtain peoples support for
it, or acceptance of it. Politics as usual.


In reality there was not a lot of public support or objection in either
direction. I made my submissions about it, as did a number of others
here to the government department at the time as well as writing to my
MP about it and discussing it with him.

A set of letters came back from the minister at the time (Raynsford)
from which it was pretty clear that he was not at all well informed on
the issues surrounding part P.

Overall, on the basis of the subject matter, it didn't get a lot of
governmental attention. However, it is hard to pinpoint whether or
not there was political influence behind the selective use of the
information presented to the civil servants and others involved in the
RIA. Certainly it wasn't well balanced at all, and it was very clear
that there had been extensive lobbying by the various trade
organisations who stood to gain financially as well as influentially.

Had it not been for the death of an MP's daughter as a result of a
wiring issue that would not have been addressed by part P; there would
have been little media attention either.

In the sense that this has been one of a series of measures where trade
associations of various types have been invited to or have pushed for
being the framework for self certification in respect to various
construction industry; one can suspect that a motivation for Part P has
been as a means of control and tax take; although no more than any of
the other self certification schemes.

In the meantime, Mr Raynsford has become somewhat more disengaged
politically, but is chairman of the Construction Industry Council and
of the NHBC foundation, so continues to make his mark on the sector.
Nevertheless he did find time to attend, with his wife, a performance
of the Barber of Seville and dinner as guest of Arup Group earlier this
year.