Offshore Training Passport Debate Briefing for MSPs

A Friends of the Earth Scotland and Platform briefing for MSPs ahead of a debate in the Scottish Parliament on the need for an Offshore Training Passport.

Friends of the Earth Scotland and Platform believe an Offshore Training Passport is essential to ensure a Just Transition for workers in the energy sector. The lack of cross-sector training recognition means many offshore oil and gas workers are expected to duplicate existing training to access roles in wind. This represents a significant barrier to workers moving between industries, particularly as they are often paying out of their own pocket for training.

This is supported by the findings of a recent survey of 610 offshore oil and gas workers conducted by Platform, Friends of the Earth Scotland and Greenpeace UK which showed:

• Workers are paying an average of over £1,800 a year in training costs.
• 97% are concerned about the UK’s offshore energy industry training costs.
• 65% said their employer contributed 0% to their training costs, including safety and first aid training, in the past two years – which is up from 45% before 2015
• 62% believed certificates they were asked to obtain duplicate skills they acquired at NVQ, City and Guilds or equivalent
• 62% had been asked to obtain an overlapping qualification when changing employers despite their current qualifications being in-date
• 94% of respondents said they would support an offshore passport, which licenses accredited workers to work offshore in any sector through a cross-industry minimum training requirement.

To remove this barrier for offshore workers, we urge the Scottish Government to support the creation of an Offshore Training Passport aligning training standards across the energy sector; explore whether the National Transition Training Fund or Green Jobs Workforce Academy can rectify training and skills barriers in the energy sector; and to use its role in the Energy Skills Alliance to push for the establishment of the Offshore Training Passport.