MSPs to discuss Scots oil and gas skills shortage at Holyrood

By REBECCA SHEARER

MSPs are due to gather in Holyrood for a 90 minute cross party group meeting on Wednesday 13 August to discuss the skills shortage in the Energy industry.

Three presentations will take place during the meeting by Alix Thom (Oil and Gas UK) on industry skills overview; Morven Spalding (OPITO) on the oil and gas skills industry portal; and Mike Duncan (Skills Development Scotland) on the energy skills Scotland update.

The meeting takes place in a climate of uncertainty surrounding the lack of skills in the North Sea oil and gas industry. For the past fourteen months, this has become a ‘genuine’ concern for those involved.

A report published in early 2013 claimed that the North Sea oil and gas industry need to recruit and train around 125,000 workers over the next 10 years because almost half of the current sector will soon be hitting retirement age.

Another survey, also published in 2013, found that 70% of employers are “struggling” to recruit quality candidates and the recruitment crisis in the sector is set to get worse.

And last month, the 20th Annual Oil and Gas Survey revealed that 47% of investment spending over the past year has been focused on ‘staff training’. It also revealed that 49% of respondents felt that the skills shortage was a common constraint on firm activity in the UKCS.

Medium-sized firms (those with between 199 – 500 staff) were most likely to cite skills shortages as the most significant constraint on their UKCS activity.