Out of interest, does anyone know just how many people get electrocuted in
the home each year in this country? Is it really enough to warrent these
new regulations?

Andy Hall will be along in a little while with chapter and verse; but if
I remember the posts around the time the "Part P" stuff was being
mooted, he tracked down the UK figures. Deaths from fixed wiring were in
the low single-digits; total electrocutions - mainly from faulty
appliances - were in the tens.

OK, you made me do it (fx: googling). Over at
http://www.rospa.com/product/pdfs/electrical.pdf
there's some information from the
predisposed-to-take-safety-Very-Seriously lobby. They tell us there were
5 fatalities annually from fixed wiring between 1990 and 1998, and 14
more from portable and non-portable equipment. Additionally, around 25
deaths annually are attributable to fires caused by "faulty electrical
equipment and wiring" - no breakdown in this source of appliances versus
fixed wiring, sadly. Each one's a personal tragedy, clearly; but the
overall level strikes me as low, and there would seem to be more to be
gained from looking at appliance safety than the fixed wiring which Part
P sets out to regulate and inspecturate...

Stefek