Government unveils plan to train and recruit clean energy workers
Labour wants to fill critical skill gaps in the clean energy transition by focusing on key job roles.
A new strategy unveiled by the government comes as part of Labour's wider efforts to boost economic growth and decarbonise the UK's electricity grid by the end of the decade.
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The new plan claims it will deliver on previous promises to create more than 400,000 extra jobs in the clean energy sector by 2030.
31 priority occupations have been targeted and include plumbers, electricians and welders.
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The government has also set out a target to establish five "technical excellence colleges" that will train workers with clean energy skills.
The strategy will include tailored schemes for ex-offenders, school leavers and the unemployed.
Further incentives include £20 million from the UK and Scottish governments to benefit oil and gas workers by offering bespoke career training in new clean energy roles.
The already established "energy skills passport," which identifies routes for oil and gas workers to transition into offshore wind, will now be extended to nuclear and electricity grid occupations.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said: "Communities have long been calling out for a new generation of good industrial jobs.
"The clean energy jobs boom can answer that call - and today we publish a landmark national plan to make it happen.
"Our plans will help create an economy in which there is no need to leave your hometown just to find a decent job."
Ministers say their decision to greenlight the Sizewell C nuclear power station in Suffolk will support 10,000 jobs at peak construction, while it announced Rolls-Royce as the preferred bidder for the small modular reactor programme to support up to 3,000 jobs.
Elsewhere, the Acorn and Viking carbon capture and storage projects (CCUS) in development in Scotland and the North East will support a combined 35,000 jobs, the Government estimates, building on the 4,000 jobs already set to be created in other CCUS projects in the North West and Teesside.
Christina McAnea, general secretary of Unison, said: "This plan can help create a UK workforce with highly skilled, fairly paid and secure jobs.
"Extra investment for retraining will mean experienced staff already employed in the sector are able to take on new roles."
Dhara Vyas, chief executive of Energy UK, said: "Today's announcement is a critical step forward in building the workforce required to deliver our future energy system.
"It rightly recognises the need to tackle the skills challenge collectively by investing in both new talent and our existing workforce."
Jane Cooper, deputy chief executive at Renewable UK, said: "This long-awaited plan delivers on employers' calls for a coherent Government workforce strategy for clean energy and we look forward to working with Ministers to realise its ambitions."