Failure to address Scotland’s relatively poor productivity could cost 11,000 jobs and £400 million in taxes by 2025, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has warned.
Scotland has a long-standing gap in productivity - the measure of the amount of goods and services created - between the rest of the UK and is a long way behind European competitors, Ms
Sturgeon said.
She told business leaders Scotland faces “deep-seated challenges”, particularly in the oil and gas sector, in an address to a Business in Parliament conference at Holyrood.
Nicola Sturgeon has attended the official opening of a new carbon innovation centre in Hong Kong.
The centre is managed by a group based at Edinburgh University and will work on projects promoting sustainable construction, energy efficiency and air quality.
The launch took place at the Hong Kong Science and Technology Park as part of the First Minister’s trade mission to east Asia.
A jobs taskforce set up to help North Sea workers whose jobs are under threat is to be continued “for the foreseeable future”, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has announced.
The Scottish Government set up the Energy Jobs Taskforce in January after the sector was hit by the slump in oil prices.
Initial plans were for the body, which brings together the industry, the public sector and trade unions, to be in place for six months.
But Ms Sturgeon has announced it will continue to meet beyond its original six-month commitment.
The First Minister said: “The Scottish Government is fully committed to the oil and gas industry; it has been a true success story and we are working to ensure it will continue to be so.
Sgurr Energy has signed a deal worth several million pounds with Chinese lidar manufacturer Oasis.
The agreement was announced as Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon visited Beijing.
The company said the deal will complement their package of wind farm SgurrOptimiser services.
Nicola Sturgeon has described the UK Government’s decision to end subsidy payments for onshore wind farms a year early as “wrong-headed, perverse and downright outrageous”.
Nicola Sturgeon will today call on the UK Government to consult urgently on incentives to boost exploration in the North Sea.
The First Minister will make the demand at the annual Oil and Gas UK Conference in Aberdeen.
Figures show that North Sea exploration last year reached its lowest level in at least two decades, with 14 explorations wells drilled compared to 44 in 2008.
The Scottish Government claims the Westminster Government has yet to deliver any follow up action after committing at the end of 2014 to further work on options for supporting exploration through the tax system.
