Minister for business, fair work and skills, Jamie Hepburn, who last week hosted a Working Group on the issue, is asking people to participate by means of a survey.

Industry body SELECT, which has been campaign for the recognition of electricians as a profession, said the call for evidence is a golden opportunity to detail examples of poor or unsafe work which will reinforce the case for making it an offence for someone to call themselves an electrician without holding appropriate qualifications.

Alan Wilson, acting managing director of SELECT, said: “It’s good to see the Scottish Government take this first step towards Regulation and we appreciate the action the new minister, Jamie Hepburn, has taken to move this important subject forward.

“It’s a great opportunity to help make the public safer. By introducing Protection of Title for electricians we would remove a large number of unqualified and often dangerous practitioners from the industry.”

The call for evidence is open to the general public, the electrical workforce, those affected by any such defective or unsafe electrical installations, those completing retrospective work, emergency services, insurance companies, local authorities, trade association and certification bodies and others.

The investigation will focus on a specific two-year period, between January 1, 2016 and December 31, 2018 and will concentrate on issues of defective or unsafe work within a domestic setting. Submissions must be in by February 15, 2019.

SELECT, whose campaign has been carried out over a number of years backed by the Scottish Joint Industry Board and Unite the Union, is urging interested parties to send a clear message to the government that action is required.

Surveyors, housebuilders, professional bodies and trade unions have all lined up behind SELECT’s stated position that Recognition of Electricians is an issue of public safety and that the profession should be protected by the full weight of the law.

Mr Wilson said: “It is vital that as many people as possible take part in the survey to demonstrate that action must be taken.”