British Gas has bucked the employment downturn by trebling its recruitment of apprentice engineers, creating 1,600 new jobs.

The energy giant will invest £40 million over the next 18 months in the training of the new recruits, helping to plug a shortfall of 20,000 domestic gas engineers. Two new state-of-the-art training academies will be opened in Scotland and Leicester next year, adding to the firm’s three existing centres.