Recommendation 16

HM Government · verbatim extract Accepted

The government agrees with this recommendation. As set out in the response to conclusion 15, the Department is working with industry to leading a UK-wide industry-led awareness and attraction campaign on clean energy job and career opportunities, launching next year. As part of the North Sea programme, which includes the North Sea Jobs Service and Oil and Gas Transition Training Fund, a strong communications approach will be embedded at the heart of it to ensure that workers are aware of the offer that is available to them to help them transition into new roles. The North Sea Jobs Service will utilise jobs boards and apps to identify new roles of interest, and provide job-matching to help oil and gas workers identify roles of interest. Some avenues may provide guaranteed interviews or placements with prospective employers. Conclusion 17 The Grangemouth case is the energy transition’s canary in a coalmine. It has illustrated the need for Government’s active stewardship in the energy transition. Petroineos advised the Committee that the UK and Scottish governments were aware of its plans to cease operations at the refinery five years ago. Both the UK and Scottish governments should have acted sooner to prepare for the resulting job losses and set in motion a feasibility study for future industries at the site at a much earlier point. This lack of action created an employment gap and trauma for the local community that could have been avoided. Petroineos, in collaboration with the Government, local authorities and trade unions, ought to have produced a comprehensive exit plan. (Conclusion, Paragraph 124) We agree with the Scottish Affairs Committee’s conclusions on preparation for Grangemouth. Petroineos’ first made its intention to cease refining operations public in November 2023 ahead of the company confirming this position in September 2024. Despite this the previous government had not undertaken planning for the future of the Grangemouth refinery, and no efforts were made to prepare for the refinery’s closure and the impacts on the community and workforce. Within weeks of this Government being elected, working closely with the Scottish Government, we put together a £100 million package to support the community, and invest in the local workforce, along with tailored support to secure good alternative jobs. To date the Grangemouth Training Guarantee has supported 269 ex-refinery workers with training. Alongside this, we launched the Project Willow feasibility study to identify low carbon and clean energy business models that could be developed at the site. This study drew on expertise from the workforce, local community and key stakeholders with an interest in Grangemouth to identify the site unique competitive edge and how it can be transformed into a low carbon and clean energy hub. We continue to work closely with the Scottish Government on options for investment in Grangemouth having established the Grangemouth Investment Taskforce which has received over 140 enquiries to date. We are calling on investors to come forward to seize the opportunity that Grangemouth presents to transform it into a low carbon and clean energy hub. To deliver this, we have announced a £14.5 million seed fund to support these projects, which will work alongside the National Wealth Fund’s £200 million commitment for co-investment opportunities at Grangemouth.