Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many hours officials in her Department have spent working on the alignment of training standards between the offshore (a) oil and gas and (b) wind sectors in each year from 2018.

The department does not collect data on officials’ detailed hourly activities. However, work on this topic is ongoing across government and industry.

The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education engages in ongoing reviews of apprenticeship standards, including Level 3 Maintenance and Operations Engineering Technician which has a wind turbine specialism. The skills learnt in this apprenticeship are transferrable to other sectors including offshore oil and gas. These reviews are led by employers to ensure our apprenticeships are staying up to date with the latest developments in industry.

Industrial bodies such as the Oil and Petroleum Industry Training Organisation (OPITO) are doing extensive work on policies including the all-energy qualification and skills passport. Industry-based training pathways are a crucial part of ensuring a continually robust offshore workforce. The department works with OPITO to collaborate on skills policy for England.

The Green Jobs Delivery Group is carrying out sectoral assessments through industry-expert task and finish groups to consider current and future demand for skills including for power generation, oil and gas, carbon capture, and hydrogen.

Please refer to the North Sea Transition Authority for further information on the work ongoing to ensure workers in offshore oil and gas have the skills they need for the green economy, including offshore wind.