Minister backs registration scheme for electricians

SELECT AIE Newell Fergus Eric_MG_3398
Newell McGuiness, SELECT managing director; Fergus Ewing, Scotland’s Minister for Business, Energy and Tourism; and Eric Rae, president of SELECT

Scotland’s Energy Minister told a major European conference in Edinburgh that he believed that properly qualified and competent electricians in Scotland should be registered to protect consumers.

Fergus Ewing, Scotland’s Minister for Business, Energy and Tourism, told electrical contractors, installers and building services experts from all over Europe: “We need to make sure that the public has confidence that when they choose an electrician they know that are using a properly qualified and competent tradesman. Strong, well thought-out and sensibly-policed regulation is in the interests of everyone in the construction sector and Scotland will continue to play its part in improving and promoting best practice across the board.”

Mr Ewing was speaking at the AIE-GCP Europe Installers Summit 2015 atthe Radisson BLU Hotel on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, hosted by SELECT, the campaigning trade body for Scotland’s electrical sector.

The European Association of Electrical Contractors – the AIE – comprises 20 national associations representing 175,000 contractors, a workforce of 900,000 and a turnover of €60 billion. 

SELECT’s managing director, Newell McGuiness added. “It was a great honour to be able to welcome these major, multi-national organisations to Scotland for the AIE-GCP Summit and SELECT is pleased to support the minister’s stand on registration in the industry.”