§ Mr. Nicholas BrownTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many(a) new starters and (b) people returning to the industry (i) have been trained and (ii) are being trained for the (A) ship building, (B) ship repair and (C) offshore industries under schemes supported by One NorthEast. [133392]
§ Jacqui SmithAvailable figures1 show that, over the last 12 months, 76 new trainees/apprentices joined ship building and offshore companies in the North East of England.
ONE NorthEast, the Learning and Skills Council, COGENT (the Sector Skills Council for the Oil and Gas Extraction, Chemicals Manufacturing and Petroleum Industries) and SEMTA (the Sector Skills Council for the Science, Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies) are working closely together on skills issues, including the development of a comprehensive Energy Cluster Skills Action Plan covering the offshore, marine, defence and renewables sectors. The Action Plan will identify sector skills gaps and propose solutions on issues including crafts levels, graduate skills and employee retention. An initial draft will be available in the next few weeks.
1The figures do not identify whether these places were created under the schemes supported directly by ONE NorthEast. Statistics are not broken down between new starters and those returning to the industry, nor are reliable statistics currently available separately for the ship building, ship repair and offshore industries.