Pressure is building on Scottish ministers to do more to promote the oil and gas industry as a career choice within schools.
The Conservatives led a call yesterday for the SNP government to encourage young people to consider a job within the sector.
North-east MSP Nanette Milne, who has written to Education Secretary Mike Russell, said she has the backing of the industry and its main training and skills agency, Opito. The action follows continued concern over a skills shortage in the North Sea due to a lack of trained engineers and youngsters opting for careers in other fields.
Dr Milne highlighted the work of Aberdeenshire and Angus councils to promote career opportunities in oil and gas.
She added: “However, I believe more needs to be done to promote future career opportunities in the sector to young people across Scotland and that this should be given more significance in career advice in Scottish schools.
“Many oil and gas companies already provide north-east youngsters with a taste of what a career in the industry is like and I would like to see this expanded in the future.”
Dr Alix Thom, Oil & Gas UK’s employment and skills issues manager, said: “The industry would very much welcome the opportunity to meet with guidance and careers teachers to tell them about the opportunities available.”
A spokeswoman for Opito said: “There are a number of initiatives within schools already but a lot is focused more in the north-east as you would expect, and maybe a little bit across Scotland. There probably is a need to do more at a national level.”
Last night, a Scottish Government spokesman said: “The Scottish Government agrees that careers advice and guidance must be relevant to the jobs and opportunities available both locally and nationally, something which is emphasised in the first report from the Commission for Developing Scotland’s Young Workforce, chaired by Sir Ian Wood.
“The commission has made a number of recommendations for the delivery of meaningful and effective careers advice to young people. Employers have a key role to play in this and in its final report the commission will make a number of recommendations to encourage and enable more employers to make a contribution.”