Oil and Gas Transition Training Fund - Equality Impact Assessment

Key Findings

Below is a summary of the EQIA results.

Age

There is evidence that the O&G sector has an ageing workforce profile, reflecting national demographics^[1]. Robert Gordon University (RGU) also notes that “75% of all managers and team leaders in the UKCS are over 40 years of age, and around 40% are over the age of 50” leading RGU to conclude that there is a need to upskill staff into leadership roles^[2].

Participants at the framing workshop noted that both younger and older workforce groups can face discrimination. In relation to older workers, some studies support this feedback, showing that younger workers are more likely to secure an interview^[3]. These outcomes worsen with age and intersectional considerations such as race and sex^[4].

Workshop participants also noted that there are lower levels of digital literacy amongst older workforce groups and ONS data supports this^[5]. This may impact individuals’ ability to engage with digital materials related to the fund such as application portals or promotional materials.

Disability

There is very little evidence related to the disability profile of the existing O&G workforce. However, noting the significant gap in the rate of employment between disabled and non-disabled people aged 16 to 64 across the economy more widely^[6] it is important that the fund considers accessibility for potential disabled candidates.

Evidence shows that disability pay gaps tend to be relatively large in percentage terms in the better paid industries^[7] which suggests that TTF should gather data which could correlate salary levels and this protected characteristic to feed into the wider monitoring of this issue.

The 2010 Equality Act and the specific duties (Scotland) Regulations 2012 outline the duties of the public sector including that this meeting this duty may involve treating some people more favourably than others. The Act states that steps involved in meeting the needs of disabled persons that are different from the needs of persons who are not disabled include gathering information to understand the needs of disabled persons and reporting progress. It specifies that having due regard to the need to foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it involves having due regard to tackling prejudice and promoting understanding.

Sex

Societal-wide contextual evidence suggests that women face additional challenges – such as unpaid domestic labour and caring responsibilities^[8]- that may impact their ability to engage as fully in the labour market in comparison to their male equivalents.

In the O&G sector, men make up most of Scotland’s workforce and therefore are more likely to be affected by redundancy. RGU note that in 2019, approximately 75% of the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) workforce was male^[9].

There is evidence to suggest that there are gender diversity challenges present within emerging, as well as existing, energy sectors^[10]. Reports representing emerging energy sectors, such as offshore wind, CCUS and hydrogen are clear that more needs to be done to widen the talent pool to women and other more diverse workforce groups, to fill expected workforce shortages^[11].

One aspect of findings from Pilot data which will be closely monitored is the relatively low percentage of female applicants in the Pilot.

Pregnancy and maternity

Feedback from external stakeholders for the Pilot noted that the fund should be inclusive to O&G workers that may have taken an extended career break to fulfil caring responsibilities – particularly women who may have taken time out of work to care for children.

Whilst there is no evidence related to the percentage of eligible candidates that may be on maternity/paternity leave, the Pilot design considered this, including through annex B of the eligibility criteria, which outlines exceptions to the requirement that an applicant has worked in the O&G sector in the last two years. This will be continued through the development of TTF 2026-27.

Race

There is some evidence to suggest that both existing and emerging energy sectors face race diversity challenges^[12]. However, there is also some evidence to suggest that the make-up of the existing workforces may not differ significantly from the regional demographics of the North-East^[13].

General

For all protected characteristics, the changing context of TTF will be examined to determine what is being done more widely to mitigate occurrences such as the relatively low numbers of women in the O&G and other energy sectors.

From several sources there is evidence from organisations representing destination sectors such as manufacturing or defence that significant demand exists for positions that would suit the transferrable skills of workers who are, or have recently been, employed in the O&G sector. Therefore, a potential risk exists if the TTF results in a transferral of a cohort of workers from the O&G sector and there is a significant difference in the profile of workers with regards protected characteristics.

However, due to its limited size TTF will face challenges to address wider societal issues or make significant inroads into measurable outcomes on sector demographics.