Do we need a crackdown on cowboy builders?

Absolutely.

My electrician is constantly moaning about the ridiculous “Part P” regulations which mean that he, a registered sparky with NICEIV for over 25 years, continues to pay his registration fees and work honestly as he always has done, whilst the cowboys also continue to do what they have always done, but now when he goes to someone’s house to do what should be a simple job, he either has to turn the work away because the rest of the system has been left so dangerous or else try to get the customer to accept what could be hundreds of pounds of extra work to make good someone else’s c**k-up, all because under the latest regs if he does ANY work he is legally responsible for testing and either disconnecting or putting right everything else in the installation.

Similarly my plumber condemns the gas safe scheme (and it’s predecessor CORGI) because the honest guys are ripped off for membership fees but the cowboys just carry one regardless.

It’s even a little similar in education where the last Government invented the GTC which did nothing except duplicate the work of the CRB and the unions but cost the taxpayers millions of pounds for the privilege. It hasn’t stopped poor teachers though. I see JCDD moaning about Gove (below) and I agree in the main, but at least Gove has seen that GTC was a huge waste of money and scrapped it, I will give him credit for that.

IMHO the answer is to educate people so that they can do work competently ( see Fat Sam’s post below and also recent Which? convos about DIY being a dying art) and to have proper INSPECTORS who do actually inspect and who do actually force bad tradesmen to correct defects and undergo proper (re)training. We also have to be realistic and accept that no matter how we regulate and inspect there will always be the odd one or two rougues that still get through the net.

I absolutely agree Fat Sam, and speaking as a teacher who has worked in a highly deprived area for about 16 years, with students who are screaming out for SKILLS, I feel such frustration about this that I cannot describe it.

Under the Thatcher government, the Major government, the Blair Government and the Brown government education minister after education minister has made this situation worse and taken away more and more of the SKILLS subjects. Under the CONDEM(ned) government Gove has put he last nails in the coffin with his outrageously elitist and ignorant schemes. Can you, Fat Sam, help us to get ANY government or minister to see sense? I wish I could.

I do have to point out that BEFORE Thatcher – skills were taught in schools – as was financial knowledge – But sadly the general public, business, and teachers were not satisfied.

The general public sneered at the qualifications gained (CSEs) – Business were always complaining they wanted better qualifications – nor would they train on site (Thatcher removed incentives for on site training and only gave incentives to financial institutions) – Teachers wanted equal opportunities for all.(I was one of them) Skills need to be taught early – but so does academic knowledge. The academic knowledge gained has the greatest potential for the future. Straight Skills are restrictive for future use and as there are only so many hours in the day……

The result was a swing to degrees and theory (theory far cheaper than practical) – 50% gain degrees under Labour instead of the 4% under Tories – a vast improvement.. It meant that the 45% that never used to get degrees – get them.

I taught in the most deprived school (the one where all the children went to that other schools refused to take) in the most deprived area of London for 30 years -15 years ago. I watched Thatcher destroy an excellent Educational System – The Inner London Educational System – So that she could cut taxes to City Businesses. Resulting in class sizes rising from 20 to 35. .

What is required is something like the private school I went to (It catered for the military and colonial services) – There the children were taught, tested and examined weekly in classes of 20 for three months to truly gain an impression of their strengths and ability – because many children were from military backgrounds all practical subjects were initially taught as well as the arts. As we ‘progressed’ we dropped subjects to concentrate on those we had an aptitude for. So that our degree would reflect that aptitude. We were from the top 5% of ability range. I read Physics and then Mathematics at Uni. But had qualifications in Metalwork, Woodwork, Tech Drawing. Chemistry, Biology, English etc.

Sadly this costs money – This Government and previous Tory Governments are not interested in spending money on the less able or the poor. Labour were – but sadly the Schools rebuilding programme has been scrapped. So until Labour get back in – State secondary schools especially in deprived areas will always be treated as secondary.

To gain an “A” level in a practical subject will also require an “A” level in academic ability for it to be an “A” level.