On Fri, 21 May 2004 12:57:35 GMT, "BigWallop"
wrote:



This is why we need regulation of the trades.

The real reason why there is increasing regulation of the trades is a
back door attempt to put elements of it that have continued to
operate in the black economy into a regulatory structure in order to
reach them for tax purposes.

In the case of the Part P amendments to the Building Regulations, try
hard as the government might, they were unable to demonstrate any
safety or accident based reason for so doing.


If a certain job takes a certain amount of
time and money, then the trades would have to knuckle down to a set amount of pay for that
type of work. Many trades are held back by local situations. Rents and rates on
workshops vary widely across the country, vehicle up keep and other transport situations
also vary as you move from region to region. So you have to allow for a certain overhead
structure on the pricing of things as well.

Accidents do occasionally happen. Yes, they do, that's why they are called accidents.
But downright ignorance to the possible dangers of your actions is not an accident.

The question then becomes one of whether an amount of training and an
exam constitute competence.

The reality is that it may help, but in the final analysis, people who
want to bodge jobs and do them incompetently and unsafely will
continue to do so, legislation or not.
Trained and certified individuals will still make mistakes on
occasions.

So the conclusion is really that this may all look good to those who
favour increased government intervention in our daily lives, to
lawyers who may benefit from litigation, to the taxman who will have
hooks into people who should have been paying their taxes and haven't
and to insurance companies who will be able to apply actuarial rules
more easily.

Will it be better for the consumer? I very much doubt it.




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