EIR/202500481554 · FOI/EIR · partially withheld
Energy Skills Passport and reskilling oil and gas workers: EIR release
Information requested
You set out the context that the Scottish Secretary's team cited the Energy Skills Passport as a key step in reskilling oil and gas workers for other energy industry jobs.
You asked for answers to the following questions:
How many oil and gas industry workers have signed up for the Energy Skills Passport scheme to date? How many of them are currently in active training / upskilling provided through the scheme? How many have been successfully redeployed in a renewable energy industry job, following training / upskilling? How much of the initial £3.7M funding provided by the Scottish Government has been spent?
Response
As the information you have requested is 'environmental information' for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA.
This exemption is subject to the 'public interest test'. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested. Therefore, we have applied the exception of regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs. Where applicable, this is noted below in the 'response to your request' section.
I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested.
How many oil and gas industry workers have signed up for the Energy Skills Passport scheme to date?
As of August 2025, there have been 482 sign-ups to the Energy Skills Passport
How many of them are currently in active training / upskilling provided through the scheme?
Exception – reg 10 (4)(a) Information not held at the time of request. The Energy Skills Passport supports offshore oil and gas workers to identify training and qualifications routes into several roles in the offshore wind sector. It does not provide training or upskilling directly.
How many have been successfully redeployed in a renewable energy industry job, following training / upskilling?
Exception – reg 10 (4)(a) Information not held at the time of request.
How much of the initial £3.7M funding provided by the Scottish Government has been spent?
A total of £3,703,609.57 from the Scottish Government’s Just Transition Fund was provided for the development of the Skills Passport.
About FOI
The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.
Contact Please quote the FOI reference Central Correspondence Unit Email: contactus@gov.scot Phone: 0300 244 4000 The Scottish Government St Andrew's House Regent Road Edinburgh EH1 3DG
Detected exemption language
We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA. This exemption is subject to the 'public interest test'. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. Therefore, we have applied the exception of regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs.
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