THE Govan and Scotstoun yards will be given every assistance by the Scottish Government to diversify and seek new work, the Deputy First Minister has pledged.

Nicola Sturgeon was speaking after a visit with Scottish Finance Secretary John Swinney to BAE Systems directors and union officials following the "bittersweet" announcement of redundancies in Scotland coupled with both Clyde yards being earmarked for continued warship construction.

Ms Sturgeon said the aim of the meeting was to discuss how the Scottish Government could help those set to lose their jobs, such as by helping with retraining and finding other employment.

BAE said a total of 1775 workers would lose their job, with 835 redundancies in Glasgow, Rosyth and Filton, near Bristol, and the remaining 940 in Portsmouth.

More detail about the job losses is expected to emerge next week.

Ms Sturgeon said there was demand for the Clyde shipbuilding workers' skills in other sectors, and that the Scottish Government was keen to help their skills be transferred.

"One of the things we're keen to stress, as is the company and the trade unions, is that there are other companies, other organisations out there, that have a demand for the kind of skills that we will see affected here. So we want to make sure that we're doing everything we can to bring the supply of skills and the demand for them together," she said.

"The Scottish Government has very well-established arrangements to help people in these circumstances and we want to make sure that they dovetail with what the company is planning so that people get access to the support that they need at what is an extremely difficult time.

"Eight hundred job losses in any context is a significant blow and we need to make sure that people have the support required."

Union conveners welcomed the help on offer to find new high-skilled jobs for workers facing redundancy, but one official criticised Ms Sturgeon over claims the Clyde would keep the Type-26 frigates contract if Scotland became independent. John Dolan, a senior shop ­steward with the GMB - a union which is supporting a No vote - said: "I'm quite clear that if we make the wrong decision next year in the referendum we will be in danger over the Type-26 in two years' time."

Finance Secretary John ­Swinney said there might be opportunities in renewables or the oil and gas industry for some of the Clyde workforce.

But Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael said the Scottish Government had questions to answer about shipbuilding in the event of a Yes vote in 2014.