§ Mr. Gordon Wilsonasked the Secretary of State for Energy if he will report 298W upon the efficacy of the tripartite discussions initiated by his Department with a view to maintaining continuity of work at yards building production platforms and modules; and how many jobs have been safeguarded as a result of Government policy.
§ Dr. J. Dickson MabonThe Offshore Industry Liaison Committee, formerly the Tripartite Committee, has proved a most useful forum for regular exchange of information between Government, oil companies, platform and module fabrication companies and trade unions. The discussions have fostered a spirit of cooperation and have helped the various interests to understand better each other's difficulties and concerns.
Amongst the subjects which have been examined by the Committee to date are the present hiatus in platform orders and the competitiveness of United Kingdom industry. In the near future the Committee will be looking in greater detail into factors affecting United Kingdom competitiveness and the reasons for cost escalation in the North Sea.
The tripartite talks are one of several efforts being made to alleviate so far as is possible the difficulties for platform and module yards; another is the Government's policy to have smaller more frequent rounds of licensing to avoid the severe fluctuations of the past.