Regulation of electricians in Scotland: research report

Appendix 1: Promotion of the Call for Evidence

In the first instance, this meant successfully inviting Electrical Safety First via Twitter to share a related tweet with their 19,100 followers. A second twitter invite was sent to Citizens Advice Scotland who sent the link on via their Twitter Channel. Furthermore, four Facebook posts and two paid Facebook campaigns - the first running from 30^th Jan - 6^th Feb 2019, which targeted homeowners and people with interest in home improvement or electrical work/electricians aged 30-65+ reached 10,170 Facebook users in Scotland.

This was followed by a second Facebook campaign from 12th Feb – 15th Feb 2019 targeting the same age group to achieve a final boost, which reached another 9,945 users in Scotland. In addition, four posts inviting the general public were published on LinkedIn and a twitter campaign was launched aiming to reach members of the public which complemented the efforts of the above stakeholders in attracting interest from the general public.

In this context, the Scottish Fire & Rescue service and the Scottish Electrical Charitable Training Trust as well as online platforms of residential dwellers such as OpenRent, The Tenants Voice, Property Tribes (re-tweeted to 17,500 followers) and LandlordZone were targeted, with the aim to have these platforms promote the Call for Evidence by re-tweeting the initial Pye Tait message. This approach was also taken to engage with circa six local authorities in Scotland and which were cascade through their networks, all of which reflected the Scotland-wide scope of the Call for Evidence.

Other tweets targeted trade websites, such as Checkatrade, with 14,200 followers (re-tweeted) and DIY forums such as DIYNot and Ultimatehandyman as well as In addition, profiles were created in related online forums such as ElectriciansForums, DIYNot Electrics forum, Ultitmate Handyman - Electric Forum UK and DIY Doctor - Electrics Forum as well as LandLordzone and Property Tribes. In each case, however, forum rules either prohibited the posting of information on the Call for Evidence as non-permitted advertising or required a track record of regular participation in the relevant forum. Emails to the forum administrators and moderators outlining the purpose of the Call for Evidence and asking for permission to post the Call for Evidence link and description received no reply.