Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what training or other support his Department is making available to workers in the oil and gas sector to assist them to transition to roles in the hydrogen sector.
The North Sea Transition Deal recognises that the upstream oil and gas workforce has the transferrable skills needed to support the energy transition, including the development of a hydrogen economy. The Deal supports the work of the Energy Skills Alliance, which aims to prepare the energy industry to meet the future demand for skills in new technologies. The Deal also contains a commitment for OPITO, the sector skills body, to develop an integrated people and skills plan with measurable objectives, by March 2022, to support the sector’s diversification. The Government Net Zero Strategy, recently published, further commits to reform the skills system, so that training providers, employers and learners are incentivised and equipped to help deliver our net zero aims.