COMMENT A


What’s that appearing over the horizon?


s if COVID was not enough of a challenge for our industry, we now face the spectre of a ‘No-Deal’ Brexit at the end of this year. Much of what will


happen is still very much up in the air, including a deal itself, but there is no doubt that whatever happens, businesses will have to deal with a host of issues around matters such as material costs and availability and application of UK-wide regulatory requirements etc.


For those of you who follow the news you will know that, in the past few weeks, a great deal of time has been taken up, both in Westminster and Holyrood, on debates involving the application of the UK Internal


Market Bill. This piece of legislation is being introduced by Westminster to ensure goods and services originating in one part of the UK can be bought and sold in other parts of the country without obstructions or penalties and diff ering skills and professional qualifi cations are


mutually recognised. At fi rst glance this


seems very sensible as it will ensure free fl ow of goods and services across the whole UK without any ‘local’ barriers. But – and there is always a but – each of the devolved


administrations see this as a power grab of devolution powers back to the UK Government and are concerned at the potential of lowering standards. So, how does this impact on SELECT


Members? Well, there are two specifi c areas where we have some concerns, the fi rst of which is Building Regulations. In the evidence we provided to the Scottish Parliament’s Finance and Constitution Committee, who were reviewing the UK Bill, we asked them to record the value which our Members attach to the high level of quality workmanship in the profession. And, accordingly, we took the view that some divergence in regulations across the UK internal market is acceptable where circumstances show that to be advantageous. For example, regulations designed to cope with climatic variations across the UK have always been sensible and we can see little or no reason for change in that regard.


We went on to say that SELECT would not wish to see changes to the current building regulations regime in Scotland, especially as there have been no discernible problems in operating distinctive regimes between each of the UK nations over many years. To allow the imposition of building regulations that do not consider


the historic condition or development of buildings in Scotland over the last


century or more could, in our view, lead to the potential of lowering environmental and safety standards and adding confusion to the industry. Furthermore, the Scottish certifi er of design and construction schemes, of which SELECT is a scheme provider and which operate very successfully, may not be permitted or, at the least, would be required to be in step with whatever might come out of the UK Building Safety Bill 2020. In our view, this would limit Scotland’s ability, for example, to introduce its own compliance regime refl ecting local building forms of construction. It would also undermine the drive towards increasing quality in the industry and would negatively impact on procurement regimes. Finally, we wished to see the Scottish


Parliament retain the ability to set professional standards in the Scottish marketplace and we referenced our ongoing campaign for the regulation of electricians, which falls under their current competence. You can read more about our campaign inside this issue of CABLEtalk. So, another set of challenges for us and our Members to face, but like every challenge put in our way we will seek to ensure that the industry and our Members are not left disadvantaged, and, where possible, come out stronger than ever before.


Alan Wilson Managing Director, SELECT


CABLEtalk OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2020 5


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48