In other countries you must be licensed to work, in Australia I think it is, if you go in from abroad, then to work as a tradesman you first have to do a course to bring you up to speed on their rules and regs, then you must work under the supervision of another licensed contractor for a period of a year,after this he then effectively signs you off as competent to work alone.
That would be a good start, stop foreigners who have no idea coming to the UK and just starting up,however I think as many others do that any licence to practice should be granted on experience and qualifications, not solely on how much you are willing to pay. I remember years ago being annoyed that someone such as myself, with many years of experience was suddenly deemed not qualified to carry out domestic work, yet a kitchen fitter, with little or no electrical experience could, after spending a few quid on a short course obtain a piece of paper deeming him 'qualified' to carry out domestic work!
If we look at the way the industry has gone in recent years it has indeed been hijacked by the scams and turned into a cash cow! There are the seemingly endless changes/updates to the regs, all requiring the purchase of new books, schemes that need to be joined to be able to carry out certain work, even the meter manufacturers have jumped on the bandwagon.
I remember my first MFT, it gave test results as a measured value, loop values were given in ohms, as were insulation resistance values, trip times were given in milliseconds, it was up to you as the operator to decide if the values given were within acceptable limits.
Later on they started being made with pre programmed values, I had one and you selected a breaker type from a list in the menu, did the test and as well as giving you a measured value, it also displayed the words 'pass' or 'fail'. later meters also had a tick or a cross.
At one electricians event I was treated to a demonstration of the 'latest 17th edition compliant' tester, I was curious as to what the difference was between this one and my trusty Metrel, apart from the fact that this would involve me having to part with almost a thousand of my hard earned pounds! "ah yes" said the salesman" you see with earlier meters they just gave a reading, often with a tick or cross, some said pass or fail", I listened intently, waiting to hear what wonderous new technology was about to be revealed to me, " this one however not only displays a measured value, it also states pass or fail, displays a tick or cross, and it shows a red or green light to indicate if the reading is correct"
I was absolutely amazed, I think my 9 year old grandson could have used it,it took absolutely no skill whatsoever.
We've seen loop values changed and done away with, remember when there were 2 sets,one for each of the disconnection times?, Done away with for the hard of thinking perhaps. we've seen RCD's go from a form of secondary protection to being used as primary protection, again to make it easier for the less skilled. No the industry has definitely gone down hill, in recent years.
