Source · Select Committees · Energy Security and Net Zero Committee
Recommendation 4
4
Accepted in Part
Expand Skills Passports and establish commitments for energy sector workforce transition and support targets.
Recommendation
The Government must continue to tackle barriers preventing existing energy sector workers transitioning successfully. Skills Passports and associated funding should be expanded. The Government in its response to us should propose how the transferability of skills across traditional boundaries and between devolved administrations could be accommodated better by accreditation regimes. The Government should put in place commitments to transition the existing local skilled labour supply within Contracts for Difference and similar clean energy support mechanisms. These should include tangible workforce transition and support targets and leverage UK manufacturing content requirements where possible. (Recommendation, Paragraph 32)
Government response summary AI-generated
The government agrees broadly with the recommendation, committing to the Warm Homes Plan's £15 billion investment projected to create 240,000 jobs by 2030, and establishing a taskforce with the TUC to facilitate worker transition. However, it does not explicitly address the expansion of Skills Passports, proposals for skill transferability via accreditation, or specific commitments with targets within Contracts for Difference mechanisms.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Government Response
Accepted in Part
HM Government · verbatim extract
Accepted in Part
The government agrees with this recommendation. The government is committed to tackling the barriers preventing the transition of existing energy sector workers. The majority of the workforce needed to meet our clean energy ambitions are already in employment,1 and Robert Gordon University estimate that over 90% of the UK’s oil and gas workforce have skills that have medium to high transferability to the offshore renewables, making them well-positioned to transition.2 The Energy Skills Passport is one tool to support this, and we are continuing to support its expansion, including exploring the inclusion of additional clean energy sectors, such as electricity networks and nuclear. The Clean Energy Jobs Plan sets out a broader package of measures to create a highly-skilled and transferrable workforce, including providing up to £20 million of funding from UK and Scottish Government to aid the transition of North Sea workers through the Oil and Gas Transition Training Fund. We also committed to a bespoke offer for veterans to help them move into the clean energy sector. 1 The Prince’s Responsible Business Network (2022) Rebooting Lifelong Learning for a Skilled Workforce 2 Robert Gordon University (2023) Powering up the Workforce In the North Sea Future Plan, we announced a new North Sea Jobs Service, which will offer end-to-end career transition support for oil and gas workers looking to move into secure jobs in growing industries. The Jobs Service will work closely with industry to identify vacancies, match eligible workers to prospective employers, and identify ways to close any qualification gaps including through existing services. DESNZ is exploring options to enhance the impact of the Clean Industry Bonus by accelerating skills investment and supporting workforce transition into offshore wind. As part of this, we have consulted on whether developers should contribute to a collaborative skills fund or invest directly in project-level skills initiatives. DESNZ and Skills England are working with the Devolved Nations to identify shared skills challenges and explore what we can do collaboratively to that will drive consistency in training and lead to portability of skills.
Read the full response on Parliament ↗