Responsibility for the enforcement of the building regulations is a matter for the 37 local building control authorities. Statistics furnished by local building control authorities for 2004 show that 56 enforcement notices were served by building control authorities for non-compliance with the building regulations; and 41 prosecutions were initiated. The relevant statistics do not give a breakdown of the outcome of inspections in terms of non-compliance with specific parts — A to M — of the regulations.
The agreed national target for building control inspections is that each building control authority should inspect a minimum of 12% to 15% of buildings for which valid commencement notices are served on the authority. In 2004, 31 out of 37 authorities — 84% — achieved this target and I would hope that all authorities would achieve it by the end of 2005.