Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, whether his Department has implemented a training programme to provide civil servants with skills to support its transition to net zero.

Whilst the Department has not implemented a specific training programme to provide staff with skills to support its transition to net zero, the new Government Curriculum will include modules on the implications of Net Zero, climate change and wider environmental issues for the government.

In the first phase, the Government Skills & Curriculum Unit (GSCU) is working with other Departments (including BEIS, DEFRA and FCDO) to create an awareness level training resource for all civil servants. This will be piloted from April 2022. In the next phases, GSCU will look at tailored provision for specific Functions and Professions, and will signpost the training and other resources on Net Zero, which are already being provided internally at practitioner and expert levels by government Departments.