Chamber and committees

Morning, minister. On Murdo Fraser’s point, I remind folk that the Conservative Government in the 1980s tried to stop boycotts against apartheid South Africa. We should remember that.

Amnesty International, in its evidence to the UK Parliament, highlights that Scotland is attempting to

“use the leverage of public procurement to incentivise companies to behave sustainably with regard to human rights, labour rights and the environment.”

Similarly, Human Rights Watch said that, if the bill comes into operation,

“The effect could be to hamper these groups from taking steps in business dealings to avoid causing or contributing to human rights abuses and international crimes.”

The Local Government Association in England has raised concerns, and Universities UK has raised concerns about freedom of speech and so on. My question to you is this: what would be the potential impact on the procurement policy or pension fund investment decisions of councils or universities if this bill were to become law?

During the transition period, which will go on for a reasonably long time, especially since the UK Government has made available more licences for oil and gas, we will have to juggle the need for workers in the oil and gas industry for the next 10 or 20 years with the need for workers for offshore wind, which is proving to be successful. We generate surplus electricity in Scotland, which we send south of the border. There is also huge scope for hydrogen.

Colin Beattie touched on the difficulty in attracting enough workers. I am aware that only 36 per cent of workers in the oil and gas industry in the UK are in Scotland. What is the UK Government doing to try to tackle the problem, given that only 36 per cent of oil and gas workers are in Scotland?

My second point is about oil and gas workers’ transferable skills. If they do not have work in the UK, they can go to Gabon, Venezuela or all over the world, and vice versa—people can come here. The Offshore Energies UK report highlighted that in recent years, 27 per cent of EU workers in the North Sea have left and 54 per cent of non-EU workers have left, which is around about 3,000 jobs in total. What needs to change in the UK immigration system to attract workers so that we can juggle the three balls of offshore wind, oil and gas, and hydrogen?

Does anybody else want to come in?

Is there a need for foreign workers?

Gordon, to achieve this ambitious project that would deliver for Scotland, what additional skills would we need? What do you guys need for certainty?

We already have the energy hub in Aberdeen and the north-east and we have touched on oil and gas, offshore wind and wave technology and so on. However, I want to continue with questions about hydrogen.

Paul de Leeuw said earlier that there was £200 billion of investment available, with £100 billion already placed. Some of that £100 billion has been spent in places such as China, America, Chile and Germany, but there is no mention of the UK. Meanwhile, the top 10 producers of green hydrogen are forecast to be the countries that I have mentioned as well as Morocco, Canada and Egypt—again, no mention of the UK. How attractive is Scotland—or, indeed, the UK—to green hydrogen investors?

Suzanne, you said earlier that we need certainty and a clear road map to get the investment we require. Does either the Scottish Government or the UK Government have to do anything else to get us to the point that Paul de Leeuw has described?

The call has been about what the Scottish Government should do. I am saying that in the oil and gas industry in the UK—whether the split is 50/50 or the UK Government’s figure of 36 per cent is right—a lot of the workers in oil and gas are not in Scotland, but are elsewhere. What is the UK Government doing to tackle problems that face the energy industry?

I apologise for being late to the committee this morning, which was due to the traffic. Much of what I was going to ask about has been touched on. However, I want to ask a couple of specific questions, the first of which goes to John Boland.

A couple of times, you have mentioned the need for a universal training passport so that people can come from the oil and gas industry into—predominantly—offshore wind. Can you give us an idea of the cost for somebody who is trying to make the transition without the universal training passport?