Nicola Sturgeon bangs drum for North Sea workers

Sturgeon tries her hand at the drums with the Beijing Red Poppy Ladies Percussion Group during her visit to China yesterday. Picture: Contributed

A 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.

“The taskforce has worked to ensure with partners in the sector to maintain jobs and to mitigate the potential impact of any losses, and I think it is vitally important that it continues to do so for the foreseeable future.”

Meanwhile, a third event by the Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (Pace) is taking place in Aberdeen in September, after 1,700 attended similar meetings to find out about jobs, education and training.

Ms Sturgeon said: “Pace is also a vital part of the government’s commitment to Scotland’s workforce as it provides real and practical support to people who have been made redundant.

“The initiative has already helped a number of people and that’s why I’m keen for Pace to continue to support workers.”

She was speaking as she met representatives from three of the world’s largest oil firms – Sinopec, PetroChina and CNOOC – during her visit to China.