Chamber and committees

Maggie McGinlay, do you have any thoughts on this?

I would like to touch on one or two issues around skills and expand a little bit on what has been discussed so far. There has always been an assumption that the transition from the energy sector into the renewables sector will be smooth, and yet evidence that we have taken in this committee previously indicates that that is not happening at the pace that was anticipated. It leads us, then, to other industries and other sectors needing to develop skills such as, for example, the construction industry for retrofitting the built environment.

The Construction Industry Training Board estimates that to meet net zero targets, an additional 4,600 project managers, as well as 4,300 plumbers and heating, ventilation and air conditioning workers will be needed in Scotland by 2028. That is a lot of bodies. The other sectors in the industry are all showing huge deficits in the number of bodies that they can recruit versus the number that they need. Is the skills pipeline that has been set up to deliver those wider skills requirements across the different sectors working? Is it up to the quality that is needed? Where will the workers come from, given the acute shortage of workers, particularly skilled workers, across the economy? John Boland, perhaps I can ask you first.

You spoke about electricians there. One thing that has been at the back of my mind is how transferable to the renewables industry all the jobs that are available in the oil and gas sector are.

Emma Harrick, can I turn to you?

For those of you who were present during the previous witnesses’ evidence, I note that the questions that I asked I did not get definitive responses, so I am hoping that I will get better answers here. We have talked about the energy sector and the anticipation that people will transition from jobs in oil and gas to jobs in renewables, although in recent times certainly, according to the evidence that we have received, that has not been as quick and has not been at the volume that was expected.

On skills in other industries—for example, construction and retrofitting the built environment—research from the Construction Industry Training Board estimates that to meet net zero targets there is a need for 4,600 project managers, as well as 4,300 plumbers and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning workers by 2028, which is not long. We know from other evidence that 30,000 engineers are needed for maintenance of heat pumps and solar panels.

Does the skills pipeline that has been set up have the capacity to deliver the required volume in the timescales that people want? Secondly, do the required people exist—in other words, do they exist physically? There seem to be shortages in almost every sector, so how will we get the people? Are we going to buy them in from elsewhere, in which case we would have a price issue around scarcity? Perhaps Gordon McGuinness can come in.

Is there or is there not capacity within the pipeline, as it is?

The pipeline cannot be delivered without more money.

Almost every sector of industry is talking about a lack of resources and a lack of physical bodies.

Are there enough bodies out there to fill those posts? As I said, the construction industry has talked about needing 4,600 project managers and 4,300 plumbers, which is a huge number of people to train up and have skilled by 2028. You try to phone for a plumber at the moment and see how quickly he comes. Are there enough human resources out there to fill all these posts that are being touted?

Mia McCarthy, do you have a view on this?