SNIPEF (The Scottish & Northern Ireland Plumbing Employers' Federation) has set up a public petition through the Scottish Parliament to urge the government to follow the lead of Westminster and introduce a boiler scrappage scheme in Scotland.

The petition, which can accessed at www.snipef.org/boilerscrappage.htm, calls on the Scottish Parliament to introduce a financial incentive similar to that which applies in England to encourage the replacement of older, inefficient, central heating boilers.

SNIPEF director, Robert Burgon, said: 'By introducing a boiler scrappage scheme in Scotland it will mean the Scottish Government will have a great opportunity not only to help with fuel poverty by reducing the large number of inefficient boilers which exist, but also to help to reduce Scotland's carbon footprint. We have decided to launch this as an e-petition as a means of demonstrating to the Scottish government that such a scheme would be popular in Scotland and we encourage people to sign the e-petition before the closing date of 19 February 2010.'

He added: 'With the likelihood of continuing increases in fuel costs the incidence of fuel poverty will regrettably continue to increase. Householders with older, inefficient boilers will be doubly affected as their boilers use more fuel than would be the case with a modern boiler. We understand the government's position over focusing the assistance to those who are affected by fuel poverty and we are sure that a scheme can be developed which both does this and addresses the environmental damage caused by inefficient central heating boilers.'