Ministers speed up ‘skills passport’ for workers to move to clean energy jobs

As Energy Secretary Ed Miliband visits Aberdeen today, recently announced as the headquarters for Great British Energy, the government is also set to sign an agreement with the Scottish Government to boost the publicly-owned energy company’s efforts to support clean energy supply chains and infrastructure.

Officials said Great British Energy, which has £8.3 billion of funding over this Parliament, would develop partnerships with Scottish public bodies to accelerate Scotland’s pipeline of clean energy projects, including floating offshore wind development.

The UK government has also confirmed it will speed up delivery of the skills passport for workers to transition from oil and gas to the renewable energy sector.

The passport, overseen by industry bodies RenewableUK and Offshore EnergiesUK – and supported by the UK and Scottish governments, aims to align standards, recognise transferable skills and qualifications such as oil and gas safety standards, and map out career pathways for suitable roles.

A digital tool for workers is set to be piloted by January 2025, officials said, as they pointed to research from Offshore Energies UK showing that 90 per cent of oil and gas workers have transferable skills for offshore renewable jobs.

Mr Miliband said: “Scottish energy workers will power the United Kingdom’s clean energy future – including in carbon capture and storage, in hydrogen, in wind, and with oil and gas for decades to come as part of a fair transition in the North Sea.

“Unlike in the past, we’re also working closely with the Scottish Government with a new agreement to ensure our publicly-owned company Great British Energy is primed to accelerate clean energy investment in Scotland.”

Acting Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy Gillian Martin said: “Scotland already has a strong pipeline of clean energy and supply chain opportunities, is at the forefront of floating offshore wind development, and has a depth of knowledge and experience on community and local energy.

“We look forward to working with Great British Energy to ensure it delivers real benefits for the people of Scotland and a just energy transition.”

And she said: “To make sure that no offshore energy workers are left behind, the Scottish Government provided initial funding of £3.7 million between 2022-2024 for the development of the industry-led skills passport.”

Secretary of State for Scotland Ian Murray added: “It should be easier to switch between oil and gas and renewables work offshore.

“The present situation, where training in one industry isn’t recognised in the other, cuts off opportunities for oil and gas workers.

“The fact some workers are paying out of their own pockets is scandalous.

“We need to cut that red tape and deliver a skills passport that allows offshore workers to move flexibly back and forth between both industries in the years and decades to come.”

David Whitehouse, chief executive of Offshore Energies UK, said the skills passport was an “important part of the toolkit industry is assembling in recognition of the integrated nature of the energy landscape”.

“Those working in our domestic oil and gas sector have powered the country for the last 50 years and will play a critical role in our energy future,” he said.

And RenewableUK’s executive director of offshore wind Jane Cooper said: “The upsurge in offshore wind jobs over the course of this decade and beyond creates excellent opportunities for highly-skilled oil and gas workers to bring their valuable experience to the clean energy sector,” adding they were working to make that transition “as smooth as possible”.

The UK government has also announced that Liz Ditchburn has been appointed as chair of the North Sea Transition Authority, which regulates and influences the oil, gas, carbon storage and offshore hydrogen industries to deliver plans for the energy transition for the North Sea.

Sue Ferns, senior deputy general secretary of leading energy trade union Prospect, responding to the announcement of a new partnership between the UK and Scottish governments on clean energy, said: “Co-ordinated efforts across the UK’s supply chains will be essential if we are to have any chance of decarbonising the power supply by 2030 so this agreement with the Scottish Government is welcome.

“The focus on skills is especially important if we are to have a just transition, utilise the talent we already have, and help people into parallel low-carbon jobs.

“We hope that if the skills passport scheme is a success it will be possible to quickly roll it out more widely to help workers affected by the transition to Net Zero access jobs in clean energy.”

Crown Estate Scotland manages the Scottish Crown Estate on behalf of Scottish ministers and plays a key role in enabling green energy ambitions. This includes the awarding and managing of leases and other types of agreements to organisations who want to use Scotland’s seabed for offshore wind farms, carbon storage, tidal, and wave energy projects.

These agreements include the recent ScotWind Leasing round, which saw the awarding of 10-year Option Agreements to 20 projects, with a potential combined installed capacity of almost 30GW of clean, green energy.

Ronan O’Hara, chiefeExecutive of Crown Estate Scotland, said: “We recognise that this is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the UK in general and Scotland in particular to develop a sustainable, long-term energy future.

“Crown Estate Scotland is uniquely positioned to be at the heart of that mission, leveraging the Scottish Crown Estate and our role as the maritime licensee in Scottish waters to accelerate decarbonisation and support the delivery of net-zero targets.

“I am delighted this progress has been made and that we can now build on this agreement, working closely with the Scottish and UK Governments, GB Energy, and others from across Scotland and the United Kingdom to support the delivery a sustainable and prosperous future for all.”

Crown Estate Scotland chairman Euan McVicar said: “I know that a lot of work has gone on behind the scenes to secure this important agreement, which we welcome. We now need to take this to the next stage.

“We are determined that Crown Estate Scotland plays a key role as this agreement is put into practice, working with GB Energy and the Westminster and Holyrood administrations to explore how together we can best deliver for future generations.”