The expertise learned from plumbing courses will have been needed to replace equipment in the boiler scrappage scheme, a project that one source believes did not go far enough.

Director of the National Home Improvement Council Andrew Leech claimed that the initiative was focused in the south-east of England, where the programme was really successful, but it could have extended to other parts of the UK.

If some form of the project is restarted, as Mr Leech has suggested it should be, then it could mean more professionals taking plumbing courses in order to be qualified to install such machinery.

Regarding the boiler scrappage scheme, he remarked: "It needs to get to the outlying parts of the country as well, particularly the northern parts where people could really do with help updating their heating systems."

The Energy Saving Trust revealed that 125,000 vouchers, which offered people £400 off when they replaced their boiler, were handed out up to March 26th.

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