Written question asked by Peter Ainsworth (Conservative) on Monday, 4 July 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 7 July 2005. It was answered by Yvette Cooper (Labour) on Monday, 11 July 2005 on behalf of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

Oil Firing Technology

Question: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when the Oil Firing Technical Association Scheme was last reviewed; and when the next review is scheduled to take place.

Answer: [holding answer 7 July 2005]: The building regulations competent person scheme operated by the Oil Firing Technical Association for the Petroleum Industry Ltd. (OFTEC) began operation on 1 April 2002. It was subject to a formal review after a year of operation. The review concluded that it had achieved a higher level of building regulations compliance than would otherwise have been the case and had helped to raise installation standards. Since that time the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has kept OFTEC under informal review and believes that the conclusions reached by the formal review remain valid.The next formal review of OFTEC will take place in conjunction with its application for UKAS accreditation to the appropriate standard, likely within the next 18 months.

Secondary information