§ Mr. Gordon Wilsonasked the Secretary of State for Energy what training facilities are being initiated by the Offshore Supplies Office to provide skilled jobs for Scots from the development of Scottish oil resources.
§ Mr. John SmithThe Offshore Supplies Office does not itself initiate such facilities. It does, however, actively support the initiative taken by the Training Services Agency for the setting up of the Drilling Technology Centre in Livingston and that by the Manpower Services Commission to set up an underwater training centre, in the Fort William area on Loch Linnhe, to meet the long-term training needs of divers engaged in the offshore oil and gas development programme. Both schemes will provide opportunities for 177W Scots in the development of the oil and gas resources. My Department has also agreed to provide £300,000 to help Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, to set up a petroleum engineering centre. The centre will provide postgraduate and post-industrial experience courses in petroleum engineering.