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Cowboy Builders

I may need to defer to my colleagues in the Department for Communities and Local Government about resourcing in local authorities for building regulations. However, self-certification is an important step forward in making sure that further protections are available to consumers. The scheme, which is compatible with TrustMark, aims to enhance compliance with the requirements of building regulations, to help tackle the problem of cowboy builders, reduce costs for law-abiding firms and promote training and competence in the industry. Certain other types of work, such as gas and electrical installation, also require that only certified builders do the job. In the case of gas, that is the Gas Safe scheme. It is important that the public are aware of such schemes. The hon. Member for Twickenham has pointed out elsewhere that many of his constituents were unaware of the TrustMark scheme, so we need to make sure that we advertise it and make consumers aware of it. The more that consumers know about and use such schemes, the quicker we can drive out the rogue builders the hon. Gentleman is concerned about. We are working hard to get the word out to consumers and builders. TrustMark is advertised on the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills website and by local authorities—for example, in Hertfordshire—that use it to provide a contact list of reliable builders for their local communities. I think that the hon. Gentleman would like to turn that the other way around, so that local authorities provided a rogue builders' list and information. At the moment, that is a matter for local authority trading standards officers to decide, based on appropriate advice, but I am willing to consider any further suggestion he might have and what he would like the Government to do in relation to his suggestion. In addition, a national advertising campaign called "The Mark that Britain Trusts" is also running, with further information being promoted through radio and newspaper articles, billboard advertisements and other initiatives targeted at consumers and the industry. For those householders who have been affected by shoddy work but who have not used a non-profit-making scheme such as TrustMark, several means of redress are still available, although I accept the hon. Gentleman's account of the difficulties that consumers can face. All building work must be carried out in compliance with building regulations, and notwithstanding the remarks made by my hon. Friend the Member for North-West Leicestershire, local council building inspectors are there to check that work is up to requirements. If a cowboy builder sidesteps those protections or commits fraud, there is redress to the courts, as the hon. Gentleman mentioned, although I accept his concerns about the problems for people with modest means or small amounts of money that are important to them. The hon. Gentleman raised a number of specific examples from his own casework. Obviously, it is difficult for me to comment on them; he knows far more about them than I could. However, I am concerned about the fact that he mentioned a case that involved a company that was part of the MasterBond scheme and was therefore associated by definition with the TrustMark scheme as well. So I should be grateful if he supplied me, if he can, with some of the detailed evidence of cowboy builders who have been part of the TrustMark scheme and who are continuing to masquerade as members of it, having been expelled from the Federation of Master Builders and therefore from MasterBond and the TrustMark scheme. I will be happy to pass on those details and to ensure that such cases are properly investigated. We are committed to working with the industry and consumers to tackle cowboy builders—I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his acknowledgement of the effort that the Government have made in this regard—and to promote best practice across the industry and to ensure a fair deal for consumers. We believe that TrustMark and other associated Government-endorsed schemes are the simplest and most effective way to do that, although I am always interested to hear suggestions from hon. Members about how we can do better, and we will continue to do all we can to raise public awareness of those schemes and their take-up by reputable businesses across our building industry. Question put and agreed to.