Speeches by Onn.

“Sue, what more should Government and industry do to strengthen the nuclear skills pipeline at every level, including apprenticeships, undergraduate programmes and PhD training?”

“Mark, is the National Nuclear Strategic Plan for Skills—catchy title—on track to deliver the supposed 40,000 additional workers who are required by 2030? If it is, who is responsible for making sure that that target is met? Who is accountable for that?”

“I do, yes. Mark, I want to check on some numbers. You said that over the last year 16,000 people have been recruited towards this additional 40,000 target, but the NIA says 11,000. Why is there a 5,000-person discrepancy?”

“Do you know what model the NIA uses compared to yours?”

“Does it all have to be about apprenticeships and graduate programmes? Are there other base-level training and entry routes that could be open?”

“I thank the Minister for the serious consideration that has been given to this pilot. It is exceptional. We heard from the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) what a difference financial support makes. I congratulate the Minister on making sure that this happens for these families, who are not asking for the earth…”

“The examples that my hon. Friend cites are incredibly traumatic. These situations are even more complicated for those who do not have legal parental rights and who have an informal kinship arrangement. Has he had any thoughts about what could be done to support those families?”

“Isn’t that what we want to do?”

“It is not out of the air. It is under your control.”

“Further to Sir Christopher’s point, I want to ask you about the statement that Dale Vince, the CEO of Ecotricity, made in January this year about heat pumps. He said: “Despite widespread claims that heat pumps cut energy bills, the independent Censuswide survey paints a very different picture. Eighty-five per cent of r…”

“Where is the promised hydrogen strategy?”

“We risk losing investment if we do not get it under way. Is it a month, a quarter, six months, autumn, Christmas—”

“You just mentioned some of the methods by which you are hoping to move and transition people who are already in the energy sector. Part of that is the energy skills passport. Do you think that the word “passport” is quite misleading? You might think that you get the passport and that automatically gives you the opportu…”

“That is on the Government website—that they will be established in April.”

“Applications for expressions of interest on the technical colleges closes on Monday next week. There is an expectation that they will be established from April this year; is that remotely realistic?”

“The Government have told us that the majority of the clean energy workforce needed in the UK is already in employment. They are already comfortably in their jobs and they are working. Can you explain why they would move to clean energy roles, particularly if those roles are less well remunerated than their current jobs…”

“You want it to actually do what it says.”

“I am going to move to workforce. My observation is that when it comes to workforce-related issues in clean energy, we seem to be facing a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation—you cannot train or recruit people to jobs that do not exist as yet. That causes huge problems; you either wait for projects to start before you re…”

“I want to move on to refineries, which you probably will not be surprised by. Do you recognise the competitive disadvantage that refineries in the UK face, and are you doing anything about that?”

“What progress is being made on carbon capture, usage and storage and hydrogen projects in the Humber?”