I don’t know the exact number but if we add up the requirements for HS2, Hinkley Point, 1.5 million new homes, Private Rental Sector home energy upgrades, water industry waste management improvements, plus four new prisons, 40 hospitals, upgrade of the power distribution networks and transmission, Clean Power 2030 renewable generation – well it adds up. Overlay that with a restriction on migration and you can see the problem.

I forgot to add an aging workforce in our sector. It makes for a real challenge. So, a good starting point is to ask how we make our sector more inviting than the others.

We can perhaps sell the vision of working on the energy transition as we move towards net zero but in doing so we need to be careful that those new entrants also recognise that they will start their careers on a fossil fuel gas system, with comparable appliances. Whatever the timetable for the transition, it is exactly that, a progression or shift. Once equipped with the skills required for natural gas, then biomethane, hydrogen or heat pumps and smart technologies become an easier update to make, while still earning a living.

But we do need to address one aspect, involving the 130,000 gas safe registered engineers. If we want them to retrain, often losing work and income when doing so, we need to guarantee them work afterwards. So, designing schemes that work with the installer in mind, should be the priority for government. Creating schemes that break the existing model may well be the intention of Whitehall officials, after all directing a dozen firms is easier than 70,000. But such an approach will fail. Installers are also the sellers of heating appliances; we need them to give consumers the confidence to embrace the transition if it is to take place.