A SHIPBUILDING firm has launched its biggest recruitment drive for apprentices and graduates as it emerged the company expects to have enough work to secure Clydeside jobs until the early 2030s.

About 165 apprentices and graduates are being drafted by Govan-based BAE Systems for work beginning next year - more than the previous two years put together.

The intake forms part of an attempt to recruit more than 200 young people in the naval ships division across the UK as BAE delivers the Royal Navy's future warships, including the Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers and Type 26 Global Combat Ships.

Design work has already begun on Type 26, with work on developing 13 ships expected to be split between Govan and Scotstoun. If the contract is finally signed as expected it would keep the yards busy to the early 2030s.

More than 800 people are working on the design described as "a big programme".

Work has already started on a £348million contract for three Royal Navy warships at the BAE yards at Scotstoun and Govan. The offshore patrol vessels, which will be used to support counter-terrorism, counter-piracy and anti-smuggling operations in UK waters, will be known as HMS Forth, HMS Medway and HMS Trent. The first will be ready by 2017.

The new wave of recruitment provides for 113 positions for apprentices and 34 roles for graduates, as well as 13 paid industrial placements and five paid summer internships.

David Hulse, GMB national officer for shipbuilding, said: "It is fantastic for the Govan yard and Scotstoun. We have been bringing pressure on the company and other companies to invest in youth because we have lost a generation of skills. Nobody has been trained up.

"As we speak, the infrastructure of Scotstoun yard is being upgraded with major investment to take the Type 26 frigates."

Mick Ord, managing director at BAE Systems Naval Ships, said: "This record recruitment campaign reflects the momentum behind our programmes such as the Royal Navy's new River Class offshore patrol vessels and the importance of these roles in ­securing the long-term future of our business.

"There is a growing demand from young people for viable alternatives to university where they can acquire their skills while earning a competitive salary. Investing in our early careers programme is an important part of our future skills strategy as we create a world class naval engineering business in Glasgow."

Youth Employment Secretary Angela Constance said: "This recruitment campaign is an excellent example of the varied options open to those starting their careers and I am delighted to see BAE Systems' commitment to Glasgow.

"Investing in young people is not just the right thing to do, it is the smart thing to do and I commend BAE Systems for their investment in a programme on this scale. Such a commitment is also a testament to the confidence employers have in the quality of our further and higher education institutions that prepare our graduates so well to take on the challenges of work."

For more than 150 years, workers have been building ships on the Clyde and, at its peak during the Second World War, the industry employed 70,000 workers across 19 yards. About 30,000 ships were built on the Clyde over the 19th and 20th centuries.

However, after years of econ­omic decline, Govan and Scotstoun are the only two major shipyards that remain on the Clyde.

BAE, who took on the yards in 1999, now employ about 3500.

Scottish shipbuilding became a major issue in the independence debate, with both sides clashing over whether the industry's best interests would be best served in or out of the Union.

Better Together pointed to the importance of Royal Navy contracts to Scottish naval bases, while Yes Scotland said a vote for an independent Scotland would overturn decades of decline under Westminster.