Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the impact of the North Sea oil and gas sector on employment and economic growth; and what steps he is taking to safeguard jobs in the offshore energy sector.

Our oil and gas sector significantly contributes towards our economy, and directly employs tens of thousands of highly skilled workers right across the UK.

However, the natural decline of oil and gas in the North Sea has seen more than 70,000 jobs lost in the last decade. On 26 November the Government published its North Sea Future Plan. This sets out how we will protect current jobs in oil and gas, while also securing the next generation of good jobs. This includes a new North Sea Jobs Service to provide end-to-end support for the current workforce to access new opportunities.