To ask the Scottish Government what action it will take to help secure the future of Petrofac and its workforce, following the announcement that the company has entered into administration. (S6T-02720)

The news yesterday will be deeply concerning for employees of Petrofac and their families. We are engaging closely with the company, trade unions and the United Kingdom Government to monitor the situation, and we stand ready to support anyone who is affected. It is important to note in this first answer that we hope that there will not be an impact on jobs in the north-east.

I thank the Deputy First Minister for that answer. The Petrofac announcement has caused a lot of worry, stress and concern in Aberdeen and the north-east. I understand and am grateful that Cabinet secretary Gillian Martin has already been in touch with Petrofac bosses in Aberdeen. I ask the Deputy First Minister for assurance that the Scottish Government will do all that it can to support Petrofac’s successful Scottish operation and help to retain that workforce in Aberdeen.

Kevin Stewart is right—yesterday, the Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Energy spoke with the chief executive of Petrofac Facilities Management Ltd. The cabinet secretary and I have also spoken separately to the UK Minister for Energy, and I intend to speak with the trade unions at the earliest opportunity.

What we understand from the company is that Petrofac has a number of fundamentally strong businesses and is focused on delivering the best possible outcome for them through this process. Its long-established UK and North Sea business continues to operate as normal, and management is working to minimise disruption for clients and employees.

Again, I thank the Deputy First Minister for that answer. Petrofac has been a top-notch company, and long may that continue. Its workforce has been of immense importance in all that it has done.

On the broader issue, the UK Government’s energy profit levy has destabilised the oil and gas industry, stymied investment and led to job losses. Folk in my Aberdeen Central Constituency and beyond are truly worried about their futures. What action is the Scottish Government taking to get the UK Labour Government to see sense and to revisit, revise and reform its policies, which are a threat to livelihoods, investment and communities?

One reason why there has been so much focus on the north-east in relation to the news about the future of Petrofac is the wider issues that affect the sector at large. It is clear that uncertainty around UK Government policies is affecting Scotland’s energy sector. We are investing considerable funds of money to support a just transition, but we again call on the UK Government to listen carefully to concerns that have been expressed by businesses more generally about the impact of its reserved energy profits levy.

The EPL was always supposed to be a temporary measure, as introduced by the Conservative Government, but it is now affecting investment and jobs in the north-east more generally, and the UK Government should be considering when the earliest possible end date could be.

My thoughts are with the workers and their families at Petrofac at this traumatic time. However, I must say that the Deputy First Minister has a brass neck coming here and blaming everyone else for what is happening to the oil and gas sector, when her Government has shown outright hostility to the sector.

Yes, Labour has blocked new licences and ramped up the energy profits levy, but it is the Scottish National Party that has a presumption against new oil and gas developments and which has failed to back Cambo, Rosebank and Jackdaw. It was the SNP that demonised the oil and gas industry when it got into bed with the extremist Greens.

I hope that the jobs at Petrofac are safe, but the truth is that thousands of jobs in the sector have already been lost while the SNP has been asleep at the wheel. When will the SNP Government release its energy strategy, remove its presumption against new oil and gas and finally support our home-grown oil and gas sector?

That was a lot of noise to cover up the fact that it was Douglas Lumsden’s party that introduced the energy profits levy in the first place. I think that Conservative members in the chamber all think that we have short memories, but we really do not.

Yesterday afternoon, the First Minister tweeted:

“This is incredibly concerning news for employees of Petrofac, their families, and the wider community. The UK Government must urgently revisit the Energy Profits Levy.”

Had he read the BBC News story that he hastily retweeted, he would have found out that it was actually the holding company of Petrofac that had gone into administration as a result of the cancellation of an offshore wind contract in the Netherlands. I can tell the First Minister that the EPL does not apply in the Netherlands. Petrofac has said clearly—as I am sure it has said to the Deputy First Minister—that its North Sea business will continue “to operate as normal”.

Does the Deputy First Minister agree that confidence in the company is critical? What advice would she give to the First Minister on the judicious and sensible use of his social media accounts?

I do not think that the First Minister is in need of any advice from me.

I hope that Douglas Lumsden was listening to Michael Marra’s question, because it set out some facts in relation to the holding company. We have engaged with Petrofac as a company and with Michael Shanks—both Gillian Martin and I have had two separate meetings with him—and we are very hopeful that there will not be an impact on jobs in the north-east.

However, I want to speak to the wider sectoral issues. Michael Marra’s party has accepted that the EPL needs to be replaced; the difference between his party and mine is that we do not think that we should wait five years to do that if we can see the harm that the levy is causing to jobs right now. We want to protect jobs in the north-east as they stand, right now, and we call on the Chancellor of the exchequer—I hope that Michael Marra will join me in doing so—to use the opportunity in her budget next month to replace something that she accepts needs to be replaced.

I call Liam McArthur for a brief supplementary.

Thank you, Presiding Officer. I apologise for arriving late for topical Question Time.

The concerns in the Petrofac workforce are not confined to the north-east; those in the northern isles with connections to the company share those concerns. Amid the flurry of accusations about who is to blame, I detected from the Deputy First Minister’s first response that she agrees with United Kingdom ministers that the matter is a growing concern. Is it not in the interests of all those who are connected with Petrofac that that message is reinforced clearly in the chamber?

For me, the priority is the employees, who will be concerned, and their families and the wider community. To those employees, I say that we are engaging extensively with the company and with the UK Government and trade unions, we are monitoring the situation very closely and we are very hopeful that there will not be an impact on jobs in the north-east.

I think that the focus on this matter indicates a wider sense of unease about job losses in the north-east, all of which have happened under companies that have cited the energy profits levy as the primary reason for the decisions that they are making. That is why we have called on the UK Government to consider replacing the EPL as a matter of urgency, while at the same time engaging very closely with companies such as Petrofac to avoid any impact on north-east jobs.

That concludes topical Question Time.