Chamber and committees

I want to continue with the point about ensuring that supply chain businesses in the north-east are able to benefit from the opportunity. I will start with you, Mark Munro. In SNIB’s submission, one of the warnings given is that decreasing oil and gas production will mean a fall in revenue for supply chains in the short term. How do we avoid losing those supply chain businesses during that period so that we still have the skills, the infrastructure and the businesses themselves to take advantage of the opportunities in the longer term that we are talking about and ensure that we are not just offshoring wind power production but are continuing to offshore the jobs? What do we do during that period, when we start to see the decommissioning of oil and gas but are not quite seeing the scale of offshore wind developments that we anticipate in the future?

That is helpful. Mark Munro made a point about the consent process, but my question is really for Ronan O’Hara. As we have heard in previous evidence, you made the observation that there are real concerns that, no matter how many leases Crown Estate Scotland hands out, they will not come on stream, or they will come on stream far too late to support the supply chains, if we do not get consent for them in a reasonable time. From your observations, Ronan, what needs to be done to make sure that that consenting process delivers at the pace that we need it to?

Thank you, convener. I do not have any interests to declare.

What actions are needed from Government to make sure that we have the workers to take advantage of those opportunities? You mentioned speeding up the consenting process, which is one of them, as that would reduce the pressure on those who have that role to drive these things forward, but what other actions are needed from Government?

Are there any actions that the Government could take during that period to make sure that your members can benefit from those opportunities?

That was very helpful.

My next questions are for Mia McCarthy and Maggie McGinlay. Mia, are you already facing skills shortages at SSE? If so, what should the Government be doing to support you?

Is the current skills development landscape set up for you to deliver all that, or are changes required to enable that to happen?

John, I ask you to comment, because you were nodding when Emma Harrick talked about the challenges of skills shortages. That will obviously be an issue that your members face. How can we ensure that people have the skills to take advantage of the opportunities that Emma talked about?

Good morning. I will kick off with some specific questions around the challenge of skills shortages. There was pretty much universal agreement from the energy sector and trade union representatives whom we heard from this morning that we already face skills shortages within the energy sector. Gordon McGuinness, in your submission you state that SDS and partners have developed a good understanding of the emerging picture. Could you say a bit more about what that actual emerging picture is? Where are those current and emerging shortages that are a threat to delivering that just transition?

Suzanne Sosna, the skills shortage that the businesses that you work with daily are facing is obviously a massive threat to the just transition. How has Scottish Enterprise adapted what you support businesses in doing to help them tackle that challenge?