Offshore Energies Magazine - Winter 2022/23

OPITO's passport to switchable employment

Industry meets key milestone in the creation of the North Sea all-energy workforce

S cotland’s offshore energy industry has hailed the impressive progress made towards delivering the innovative skills ‘passport’ that will transform workforce mobility across all sectors. The ambition for a net-zero offshore energy industry is accelerating at pace, and a key factor to enable a just and managed transition is securing a skilled, diverse and agile workforce. Putting its people front and centre to achieve this goal, Scotland’s offshore energy industry is working towards delivering an innovative skills passport that will transform workforce mobility across all sectors. The industry steering group driving the ambitious industry-wide collaboration is well on track to meet its milestones. Led by OPITO, the Aberdeen-based global skills organisation for the energy industry, it is confident that the full skills passport solution will be ready for deployment across the entire offshore energy workforce in the third quarter of 2023. That positive forecast reflects the successful achievement of the objectives of the first action plan to emerge from the Integrated People and Skills Strategy (PSS), launched in May to support the North Sea Transition Deal. The purpose of the plan, Aligning Offshore Energy Standards, is the mapping and recognition of training and standards right across the offshore energy sector, identifying gaps and removing duplication. A first tranche of mapping and alignment has now been completed, accounting for about 70% of core roles which support an offshore installation; a second tranche of role mapping is in progress. Growth = more offshore jobs The overall offshore energy workforce is set to grow significantly in the coming years with more than 211,000 jobs across the offshore energy industry expected by 2030. This creates huge opportunities for people and communities across the country.

The good news is that the opportunity to create jobs and new skills in the rapidly changing North Sea is significant and there is a high degree of skills transferability between the oil and gas sector and other emerging offshore energy sectors. The proof-of-concept for the skills passport is on target for delivery by the end of this year. This follows the securing of almost £5mn in development funding from the Scottish government's Just Transition Fund, on top of the initial £2mn investment commitment made by the industry itself via OPITO. Thepassport is a digital solution thatwill streamline the transfer of skills and address the lack of recognition of cross-sector skills. It focuses on technical qualifications and training; safety and survival training; and specialist emergency response training to support the transition of the workforce between sectors. “The overall offshore energy workforce is set to grow significantly in the coming years with more than 211,000 jobs across the offshore energy industry expected by 2030.”

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