Chamber and committees

The Covid-19 Education Recovery Group, which brings together councils, teachers’ representatives, parent bodies and trades unions, continue to meet to discuss the next steps as we plan for the safe re-opening of schools and on the 30th of July we published detailed guidance for the full time return to schools in August.

This guidance applies to all local authorities and schools under their management, including special schools, and is also expected to be used by grant-aided schools and independent schools to support their recovery efforts.

The guidance sets out clear requirements around infection prevention, including enhanced hygiene, environmental cleaning and ventilation, arrangements to minimise contacts between individuals, and use of PPE and face coverings where appropriate. Arrangements for enhanced surveillance, testing and outbreak management will also be in place. The guidance includes specific considerations for children with additional support needs, which local authorities and schools will be expected to implement appropriately in their settings.

In response to the dual impacts of Covid-19 and the oil and gas price crash, the Oil and Gas and Energy Transition Strategic Leadership Group (SLG), for which I am the ministerial chair, was refocused in April and is meeting monthly to identify practical actions to support the sector and its workforce.

The SLG is already taking a taskforce approach and working in partnership with industry, public agencies and government to protect jobs, stimulate activity in the sector and address future employment needs. Three of its four meetings since the pandemic commenced have taken a taskforce approach. The most recent meeting on 2 July focused on the retention of talent and skills within the sector.

Given the valuable channel we already have for engagement of the sector and supply chain, through the SLG and given this is working effectively and on a taskforce basis, and where feedback from members has been positive, it is my view that there is no requirement to establish an entirely new, stand-alone Taskforce. The next meeting will take place on 6 August with a particular focus on the enterprise and skills agencies’ support for the supply chain.

As part of the update that Skills Development Scotland (SDS) provided to the Strategic Leadership Group on Oil and Gas and Energy Transition SDS outlined that Oil and Gas Sector employers had notified agencies of 7,414 jobs that were at risk in Scotland, as at the 25th June 2020.

I should advise you that SDS does not monitor the number of actual redundancies because their focus is on providing support to those affected by redundancy. As such, PACE partners respond to reports of redundancy which may be received from a range of sources including HR1 notifications, the media and local intelligence. An offer of support is made to each employer and SDS's key focus is to ensure all employees who may require our support receive it.

Additionally, I should explain that redundancy HR1 notifications may not, ultimately and following consultation, result in actual redundancies and there is a number of reasons for this: for example, they may be related to a change in terms and conditions which, if accepted, do not result in redundancies or other means of avoiding redundancies.

Clearly, given that the UK Government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, which has allowed furloughing of staff, is currently scheduled to end in October, we remain concerned that there may yet be more HR1 notifications to follow in the sector.

The oil and gas industry remains a critical component of the Scottish economy, with oil and gas extraction alone worth £8.8 billion in GVA (5% of GDP) to the Scottish economy in 2019. The industry estimate that in total it supported employment of 101,400 in Scotland in 2018 through direct, indirect and induced effects. The industry also has a crucial role to play in the energy transition required to move to an economy and society that generates net zero greenhouse gas emissions.

The Scottish Government has launched a £62 million Energy Transition Fund which will support businesses in the oil, gas and energy sectors to grow and diversify and will help to attract private sector investment. This investment, which it is hoped will be part of an overall investment package of more than £900 million across public and private investment, is a direct response to requests for support from industry stakeholders and in line with calls from within the Oil and Gas and Energy Transition Strategic Leadership Group for support from both the Scottish and UK Governments. The Fund will support and develop sustainable jobs and contribute to inclusive economic growth across the country, in areas such as hydrogen, carbon capture utilisation and storage and decarbonisation of production through electrification, e.g. through developing offshore wind to power installations.

Most recently the Advisory Group on Economic Recovery have published their recommendations on ensuring the transition towards a greener, net-zero and wellbeing economy as Scotland’s economy recovers from the pandemic, which will now be considered in detail by the Scottish Government and partners.

The Scottish Government will also continue to work closely with the UK Government, which retains many of the key powers and levers needed to support the sector, including delivery of an oil and gas sector deal.

As part of the update that Skills Development Scotland provided to the Strategic Leadership Group on Oil and Gas and Energy Transition they outlined that PACE has supported 59 Oil and Gas employer sites since February 2020. Information on PACE support has been made available to 4977 employees across these sites. These figures ran up to the 25th of June 2020.

We are working on the development of a Recovery and Rehabilitation Framework, which will align with Scotland’s Re-mobilise, Recover, Re-design: The Framework for NHS Scotland’. It broadens the traditional understanding of “rehabilitation” to encompass a wider range of conditions and behaviours, that will support people to recover from the current pandemic and build resilience in the population against future pandemics. This draft Framework will put in place clear principles, priorities and objectives to support planning to meet increasing demand and to provide high quality person-centred rehabilitation in different settings, including prioritising the development of digital and online resources. We expect this to be published in August 2020. Nationally, the Scottish Government and local providers have taken action to:

• ensure the workforce is able to maintain virtual communications to work seamlessly in their peer teams, with the ability to share files in a safe and secure way
• provide a platform that clinicians can use to deliver services remotely and directly either with individual patients or in small groups. This has been facilitated by the rapid roll out of NHS Near Me (Attend Anywhere)
• increase the social media presence of Allied Healthcare Professionals to share learning, good practice and solutions
• We therefore recognise that people affected by coronavirus (COVID-19) can benefit from providing care and support in different ways including online rehabilitation services.

Scottish Ministers see trade unions as a partner in the process to maximise an indigenous supply chain for Scotland to support growth of this sector. Crown Estate Scotland has requested feedback from all stakeholders on the proposed supply chain development statement process by 29 July 2020 and will consider this prior to finalising the arrangements. https://www.crownestatescotland.com/maps-and-publications/download/478 .

Crown Estate Scotland has committed to sharing final supply chain development statements with the Scottish Government and enterprise agencies, in addition key information on the supply chain development statements will be published.

European Union state aid rules, which are still applicable, do not permit public bodies to make the award of a public contract conditional on the contractor paying staff the living wage. So although Crown Estate Scotland fully supports and encourages the living wage, applicants will not be asked to commit to paying the real living wage. In practice, available data indicates that the renewable energy sector is marked by comparatively high remuneration https://www.gov.scot/publications/growth-sector-statistics/ .

Such a step would be in contravention of conditions for Scotwind leasing which is designed to be compliant with State aid, procurement and competition regulations.