Lord Foster of Bath (LD)

My Lords, I begin by thanking the Minister for his willingness to engage with all noble Lords who have shown an interest in this Bill, and I thank his team for the support and help that they have given. I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Sharpe, on his new role. We have frequently described this Bill as being skeletal. In the two amendments that I am proposing, Amendments 2 and 27, I am offering some flesh to put on the bones of that skeleton. I am acutely aware that many of the regulations that will arise from the Bill will look at products in isolation, but there are many cases whereby products are intended for use when they are installed within some system or other, and it is usually an electrical system. Amendment 2 suggests that, when considering the safety of a product, we should take into account, where relevant, its installation. Amendment 27 argues that, when the product is installed into a system, the system as a whole, including the product, should require third-party certification. Let us take as an example something that is happening up and down the country at the moment—the installation of EV charging points, more often than not in individual homes. They are installed by electricians who, under current regulations, register the circuit and the changes made to the consumer unit, but who do not have to register the EV charging point itself. That means that the certification body is not tracking where those charge points are, not informing local building control and not doing any inspection or assessment of the charge points to ensure that they are compliant with building regulations or safety.