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Employment and industrial relations legislation is reserved to the UK Parliament. While this remains the case, the Scottish Government will continue to use our Fair Work policy to drive up labour market standards for workers across the Scottish labour market. There have been no recent discussions with the UK Government specifically regarding the employment rights of offshore oil and gas workers in Scotland.

In the absence of powers over employment legislation, through our flagship Fair Work First approach, the Scottish Government is applying Fair Work First criteria to public sector grants, other funding, and contracts where relevant and proportionate to do so, driving up minimum standards in fair work practices across the labour market. It is for individual funders and buyers to monitor delivery of Fair Work First criteria through their funding and contracting arrangements.

No specific assessment has been undertaken of the uptake of the Fair Work Framework in Scotland’s (a) offshore oil and gas, (b) offshore wind, and (c) maritime industries.

The Scottish Government has committed to undertake an evaluation of Fair Work First in 2025-26, working with the Fair Work Convention and engaging key stakeholders, including the STUC, to understand how effectively this policy is being delivered and what more can be done to strengthen the approach.

The Energy Skills Passport is an industry-led initiative supported by RenewableUK and Offshore Energies UK, with Scottish Government funding also contributing to its development. The initial version, launched in January 2025, is designed to support individual oil and gas workers by helping them identify transferable skills and training needs to transition into key offshore wind roles. The Passport is focused on workforce mobility between sectors and we will continue to engage with industry and other stakeholders, including trade unions, on its potential roles across Scotland's energy sectors.

The initial, industry-led, phase of the development of the Energy Skills Passport has been supported by £3.7 million of Scottish Government Just Transition funding over financial years 2022-23 and 2023-24. This funding has helped to lay the groundwork for a successful Passport, including both cross-sectoral working and the development of a digital solution, leading to the pilot version of the passport launched in January 2025.

We are now looking forward to seeing the Passport develop further, providing more options and pathways for workers to transition between sectors. Success going forward will require the Passport to be fully supported from a range of bodies, including UK Government. The Scottish Government will also remain closely involved as a supportive project partner.

The Energy Transition Skills Hub is supported by £4.5 million in Just Transition Fund capital support. The construction phase of the project is expected to conclude later in 2025.

The Scottish Government is investing up to £500 million over five years to anchor our offshore wind supply chain in Scotland. This investment will support market certainty, and help create a highly productive, competitive offshore wind economy that supports thousands of new jobs, including in north east Scotland.

The Scottish Government has also invested millions of pounds via the Just Transition Fund for the North East and Moray, including the development and rollout of a digital energy skills passport (£3.7m), investment in a skills hub within the ETZ Skills Campus (£4.5m), support for the National Energy Skills Accelerator (NESA) (£1m), and funding for Net Zero Bottlenecks in Moray (£210k).

We have also convened a ‘Team Scotland’ short-life working group (SLWG) to develop an offshore wind skills action plan at pace which will identify and address gaps in training provision. The SLWG is jointly chaired by the Director of Offshore Wind in the Scottish Government and the CEO of Scottish Renewables, ensuring collaboration between the public sector and industry.

I refer the member to the answers given for S6W-35156 and S6W-35159 on 27 February 2025.

It is for independent licensing authorities to consider their own approaches on requirements for MOT testing, subject to meeting legal requirements.

Chapter 5 (vehicles) of the Scottish Government best practice guidance for local licensing authorities and taxi and private Hire Car (PHC) operators on the licensing of taxis and PHCs and their drivers, provides examples of best practice that independent licensing authorities may wish to consider in relation to MOT testing for taxis and PHCs: https://www.gov.scot/publications/taxi-private-hire-car-licensing-best-practice-licensing-authorities-taxi-private-hire-car-operators-3rd-edition/pages/7/

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-35156 on 27 February 2025. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

The information requested is not held by the Scottish Government. These are operational matters for individual licensing authorities.

More generally, the Scottish Government continues to engage directly with local licensing authority representatives through engagement with the Society of Local Authority Lawyers and Administrators in Scotland (SOLAR). Scottish Government participation at the SOLAR Licensing Group meetings provides a platform to discuss a variety of licensing policy issues, including the taxi and PHC licensing regime.

The details of the budget we have provided to the Just Transition Commission to date is as follows:

Data on direct employment in offshore decommissioning is not held centrally. However, these jobs will be included as part of the data from Office of National Statistics, on overall employment for the “oil and gas extraction support services” sector. The most recent data for 2023 states there were 13,000 people working in this sector in Scotland.

Evidence available for CCUS is mostly predictive in nature, and due to the nascent nature of the industry in Scotland, there is no robust evidence regarding the current number of CCUS jobs in Scotland.

When Track-2 commences, Scottish Cluster analysis suggests that there will be around 7,000 jobs in CCUS development, construction and operations in Scotland in the period to 2050.

The continued delays from successive UK Governments in confirming the Acorn Project is putting these jobs at risk. The Chancellor stated on 29 January that net zero is the “economic opportunity of the 21st century” and the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero wrote to the First Minister, stating that that the UK Government ‘remain very firmly committed to the Track 2 clusters’, with Acorn being one.

To harness the economic potential, including thousands of CCUS jobs, the UK Government must confirm funding for the Acorn project without delay.

I refer the member to the answers given for S6W-35156 and S6W-35159 on 27 February 2025. This information is not held centrally.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers