During 2006 there was a major review of domestic gas safety and this involved extensive stakeholder engagement. The proposals for a competition for a provider for a new gas registration scheme arose from the views of stakeholders and the recommendations arising from that review.
There is a lot of information about the new scheme on the website and we regularly update this with new information as it becomes available. However, as this is a procurement exercise, there are commercial limitations on what we can say and when we can say it. On 18 June 2008 HSE announced that it had selected Capita as the preferred bidder to run the new registration scheme for gas installers to start on 1 April 2009. We are now in final negotiations with Capita and further detail about the new scheme will be announced later in the year when the contract arrangements have been finalised with the successful bidder.
Installers were very much involved in the consultation on the new registration scheme. The recommendations and proposals for the new scheme arose from the views of stakeholders including gas installers and organisations representing gas installers. The new scheme is set to start from 1 April 2009 which allows for transitional arrangements. Information about the changes has and is being made public as soon as it becomes available.
The HSE website has been regularly updated with information on the changes and there have been a number of press releases. The trade press have carried regular articles about the competition.
HSE aims to build up a comprehensive list of questions and answers about the new registration scheme that are of general interest to installers and the industry.
If you have a question, email it to: gas@hse.gsi.gov.uk and we will pull together themes from questions asked and publish the answers here.
We propose to regularly update frequently asked questions (FAQ’s) on this web site. We will release further information regarding the new scheme in early autumn.