A new £12 million fund to support those people who lose their jobs in the oil and gas industry is being set up.

The Scottish Government’s ‘Transition Training Fund’ will help maintain the highly skilled energy workforce in the North Sea region by offering grants to individuals to support their redeployment through retraining or further education.

It will also support people with the costs of maintaining any licences they need to work in the sector.

Practical training and education will be provided that will help people meet the demand for other specialist jobs in the wider industry.

It comes as the downturn in oil prices has hit the sector and led to thousands of job losses.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “This is not just distressing for those individuals affected; it has a wider impact on the industry, with the risk that the highly skilled workforce is lost to the sector as they look for opportunities elsewhere.

“It is therefore absolutely crucial that we take every possible action to retain the expertise that the industry has built up over decades so that it remains flexible enough to capitalise on exploration investment and future oil price rises.”

She added the fund will work with the Energy Jobs Taskforce, which is already providing help to those affected by redundancy.

The UK and Scottish Governments have pledged £20 million and £12.5 million to support the industry.