Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department is taking to help increase the number of jobs in the renewable energy sector.
Meeting the UK’s Clean Energy Superpower Mission and delivering Clean Power by 2030 are vital to enhancing our economic and energy security whilst driving economic growth across the country. This transition will create tens of thousands of opportunities across the sector, from renewables to upgrading the UK’s grid infrastructure.
The Government is backing this ambition with major investment. Over the next three years, over £100 million will boost engineering skills in England. Working with Skills England, this investment will grow the talent pipeline through education, apprenticeships, and new Technical Excellence Colleges. Supported by the Skills Mission Fund, these colleges will tackle engineering shortages critical to the clean energy sector. DESNZ estimates that the offshore and onshore wind sectors could support up to 145,000 direct and indirect job across Great Britain by the end of the decade.
In 2025, DESNZ will publish a full Clean Energy Workforce Strategy, setting out further actions to ensure that the workforce needed for clean energy delivery is in place, and that the jobs created across the country are high-quality, inclusive, and long-term.