Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S6W-40637

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 7 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the implications of projected oil and gas job losses by the early 2030s on the required scale and pace of delivery of the Energy Skills Passport pilot scheme.

The Scottish Government is deeply concerned by any planned job losses in the oil and gas sector.

We continue to monitor and consider a range of evidence in relation to Scotland’s energy system. As part of this approach, we review reports on employment from industry, trade unions and other bodies. We have also commissioned and published independent analysis on Scotland’s Energy System and Just Transition. This analysis considers the economic impact of Scotland’s oil and gas industry, including in terms of employment, during the transition to net zero. A partial update of the baseline data underpinning this analysis was published in April 2025.

The Energy Skills Passport is an industry-led tool to support oil and gas workers to identify training pathways into key offshore wind sectors. It is one tool in a wider landscape of support for Scotland’s oil and gas workers. For example, the Passport is complemented by the Oil and Gas Transition Training Fund (launched in July 2025 as a joint initiative from Scottish and UK Governments) which offers tailored careers advice and funded training for eligible workers looking to build the skills needed for work in Scotland’s sustainable energy sectors.

In the unfortunate event of any employees facing redundancy, the Scottish Government will also always offer and provide support through the Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (PACE). Through providing skills development and employability support, PACE aims to minimise the time individuals affected by redundancy are out of work.

Question reference: S6W-40624

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 7 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many career paths are currently mapped through the Energy Skills Passport pilot scheme and when it expects full coverage to be achieved.

Question reference: S6W-40618

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 7 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the uptake of the Energy Skills Passport has been among offshore workers since the pilot scheme was launched on 22 January 2025.

Question reference: S6W-40636

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 7 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how the Energy Skills Passport pilot scheme is being integrated with other just transition programmes, including retraining grants, regional employability services and industry deals.

The Scottish Government has already invested more than £120 million in the North East through the Just Transition Fund and the Energy Transition Fund to support the region’s transition to net zero. This funding has helped create green jobs, support innovation, and supported the highly skilled workforce of the future.

As part of this, the Scottish Government has supported the initial phases of industry led development of an Energy Skills Passport by providing £3.7 million through the Just Transition Fund over the financial years 2022-23 and 2023-24.

The Passport is a tool to support oil and gas workers to identify training pathways into key offshore wind sectors. It is one tool in a wider landscape of support for Scotland’s oil and gas workers. For example, the Passport is complemented by the Oil and Gas Transition Training Fund (launched in July 2025 as a joint initiative from Scottish and UK Governments) which offers tailored careers advice and funded training for eligible workers looking to build the skills needed for work in Scotland’s sustainable energy sectors.

Question reference: S6W-40633

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 7 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether an independent evaluation of the Energy Skills Passport pilot scheme will be commissioned and, if so, when the evaluation report will be published.

The Scottish Government’s Just Transition Fund for the North East and Moray, which was the source of the £3.7 million funding awarded over 2022-23 and 2023-24 to the industry-led development of the Energy Skills Passport, has been independently evaluated. The report from that evaluation was published in July 2025 and is available here : Final report of the evaluation of the impact of the Just Transition Fund for the North East and Moray.

Question reference: S6W-40615

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 7 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many employer accounts there are on the Energy Skills Passport pilot scheme, broken down by (a) oil and gas, (b) offshore wind, (c) onshore renewables, (d) construction, (e) defence and (f) any other sector.

The initial version of the industry-led Energy Skills Passport is a tool to support oil and gas workers identify training pathways into key offshore wind roles. Accounts are created by individual workers.

The Energy Skills Passport is an industry-led project, with Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) and RenewableUK (RUK) as the lead bodies.

The latest information available to Scottish Government regarding uptake, which covers the period from launch in January to August 2025, is that around 480 user profiles have been set up on the Passport’s digital system.

For the most up to date figures, we recommend contacting OEUK and RUK directly.

Question reference: S6W-40623

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 7 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what additional public funding, beyond the initial £3.7 million announced in its news release of 22 January 2025, Energy Skills Passport, it has committed to the Energy Skills Passport pilot scheme, and what representations it has made to the UK Government regarding the scheme getting support from Great British Energy.

The Scottish Government has supported the initial phases of industry led development of an Energy Skills Passport by providing £3.7 million through the Just Transition Fund for the North East and Moray over the financial years 2022-23 and 2023-24. There are no plans at this time for further funding from the Scottish Government.

We nonetheless remain a close project partner and Scottish Government officials engage regularly on the Passport with the lead industry bodies, Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) and RenewableUK (RUK), as well as with UK Government officials.

Following the launch of an initial version by the industry lead bodies in January, the Scottish Government is looking forward to now seeing the Passport develop further and provide more options and pathways for workers to transition between sectors. Success during “phase 2” of the Passport will require it to be fully supported from a range of bodies, including UK Government.

Question reference: S6W-40631

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 7 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what key performance indicators it is using to measure the success of the Energy Skills Passport pilot scheme, and what the current performance is against each indicator.

Question reference: S6W-40634

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 7 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether any approved change requests have altered the scope, cost or timeline for the Energy Skills Passport pilot scheme, and what the rationale has been for each change.

Question reference: S6O-05055

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 October 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to recent reports of a rise in recorded bullying incidents in schools.