Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when he expects to publish the Government’s response to the recommendations of the Green Jobs Taskforce.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The evidence collected by the Green Jobs Taskforce, and its recommendations, is now being considered by the Government as part of the development of the Government’s ambitious Net Zero Strategy, due to be published ahead of the UN’s climate summit COP26 in Glasgow this November. This will be the first step in responding to the Taskforce’s report.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when he last discussed an Offshore Energy Passport for workers in the oil and gas industry with (a) employers, (b) trade unions and (c) training standards bodies.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I met with a Skills Body for the energy workforce, Offshore Petroleum Industry Training Organisation, in March to discuss re-skilling and future skills needs. OPITO is engaging with the oil and gas and offshore wind industries through the Energy Skills Alliance to address cross-industry priorities.
The offshore wind sector has, as part of the Sector Deal, committed to cross-industry collaboration to support workers transitioning between the oil & gas and offshore renewables sectors. This is being led by the Offshore Wind Industry Council.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent steps he has taken to develop an internationally recognised Offshore Energy Passport for offshore workers that will facilitate job-mobility between offshore renewable and extractive industries.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The offshore wind sector is leading work to facilitate job-mobility between industries as part of the Offshore Wind Sector Deal People & Skills workstream. The release of a Joint Statement on Collaboration in 2020 reflects an active commitment to create good working practice and mutual recognition of standards across sectors. Industry have developed Merit Assessment, a system which allows for existing training, qualifications and certification to be converted to an industry recognised Global Wind Organisations qualification.
Industry is in the advanced stages of forming an agreement between offshore wind and oil and gas stakeholders committing them to work collaboratively for the benefit of the workforce across sectors and to avoid duplication of training where possible. Moreover, industry is in the final stages of developing a Wind Energy Access Portal which will provide the knowledge necessary for workers to transition to the offshore renewable industry with minimum friction.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the local content target in the Offshore Wind Sector Deal applies to offshore wind turbines installed to reduce emissions from oil and gas production on the UK Continental Shelf.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK Government, and the Oil and Gas Authority, consider the development of the industrial supply chain as a key priority. The objectives of the Sector Deal apply to the offshore wind sector as a whole.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what progress has been made on (a) public and (b) private funding for electrification of offshore oil and gas installations on the UK Continental Shelf in order to reduce emissions from oil and gas production in line with the targets to 2030 contained in the North Sea Transition Deal.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Through the North Sea Transition Deal, we committed to identifying potential funding opportunities for early-stage offshore electrification studies and are making good progress on this. We continue to work with regulators and industry on addressing strategic barriers to electrification of offshore oil and gas installations.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent progress the Offshore Implementation Group has made on tackling the regulatory and legislative barriers to offshore electrification; and if he will list the organisations included in that group.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
A Government and Regulators Electrification Group has been established with the purpose of addressing barriers to electrification at a level of ambition consistent with Carbon Budget 6 and the North Sea Transition Deal. To date the group has been attended by representatives from across the Department, as well as The Health and Safety Executive, The Crown Estate, Crown Estate Scotland, Marine Scotland, Ofgem and the Oil and Gas Authority, membership is kept under review to ensure we are able to address the strategic barriers to electrification.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when his Department plans to publish its responses to the consultations on (a) Contracts for Difference (CfD): proposed amendments to the scheme 2020, (b) CfD: changes to Supply Chain Plans and the CfD contract and (c) CfD for low carbon electricity generation: new Supply Chain Plan questionnaire; whether he has discussed the findings of those consultations with representatives of the Low Carbon Contracts Company; and if he will ensure that responses to those consultations are published ahead of the start of the Contracts for Difference Fourth Allocation Round.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government published its response to ‘Contracts for Difference (CfD): proposed amendments to the scheme 2020’ on 24 November 2020. The Government will publish responses to ‘CfD: changes to Supply Chain Plans and the CfD contract’ and ‘CfD for low carbon electricity generation: new Supply Chain Plan questionnaire’ shortly. The Government has discussed and will continue to discuss these policy changes with representatives of the Low Carbon Contracts Company. The Government responses and guidance on supply chain plans will be published ahead of the commencement of the Contracts for Difference Fourth Allocation Round to ensure that stakeholders have time to review policy changes before submitting applications.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what methodology his Department used to set the target of 60 per cent UK content in offshore wind farm projects by 2030 contained in the (a) Offshore Wind Sector Deal and (b) Prime Minister’s Ten Point Plan.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government did not set the 60% target, however, as part of the negotiations to agree the ambitious Offshore Wind Sector Deal in 2019, the industry conducted it’s own analysis and agreed to increase the target from 50% to 60% and published this year a Memorandum on UK Offshore Wind Supply Chain Development in February this year which sets out the strategic approach to delivering against their target.[1]
[1] https://www.owic.org.uk/documents
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when he last reviewed the (a) procedures and (b) methodology used by the domestic offshore wind industry to calculate local content over the lifetime of an offshore wind farm development (i) before and (ii) after the final investment decision.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The methodology for measuring the UK content of offshore wind farms was developed by industry via the Offshore Wind Industry Council (OWIC) in 2015. Under the framework, the owners of all UK offshore wind farms achieving final investment decision (FID) report their UK content through the trade association RenewableUK.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when he last reviewed the (a) procedures and (b) methodology used by the offshore wind industry for reporting local content in offshore wind developments at the capital expenditure stage.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The methodology for measuring the UK content of offshore wind farms was developed by industry via the Offshore Wind Industry Council (OWIC) in 2015. Under the framework, the owners of all UK offshore wind farms achieving final investment decision (FID) report their UK content through the trade association RenewableUK.