Heat Pump Sector Deal Expert Advisory Group: Scottish Government response

Recommendation 6

Industry and government should work together on specific actions to ensure the growth in the skilled workforce required to support heat pump deployment.

Scottish Government Response

Many of the core skills required to support the Green Heat transition already exist in the Scottish economy. For example, plumbing and heating engineers have the core skills required to install zero emissions heating, but may require upskilling on unfamiliar technologies such as heat pumps.

The Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan (CESAP)^[7], published in December 2020, is central in defining our ambitions to create a future workforce that can support our transition to a net zero economy. CESAP focuses on both immediate action as well as the longer-term systemic change that will need to take place by 2045 across our five priority sectors, one of which being the green energy transition.

Skills Development Scotland (SDS) have established a new Heat Decarbonisation sub-group of the CESAP, to work with the heat and energy efficiency industry to: develop new targeted skills support; maximise existing skills pathways; establish new skills pathways; and, bolstering training capacity. Through the sub-group, SDS are leading a series of pathfinder projects in the Glasgow City and Shetland Council areas to build an understanding of forecast skills demand, identify gaps and design a response through our skills support system.

We will continue to engage with the work of the sub group to develop our green heat skills landscape in a way that best supports the sector's transition.

Within our Supply Chains Delivery Plan, we commit to undertaking a refresh of the Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan, setting out our approach to planning for Green Heat Skills. We will also look to improve the content of our Green Jobs Workforce Academy to ensure information and advice reach the right people at the right time.