More power to employers in qualifications overhaul

Employers in the North West’s £6.6 billion food and drink manufacturing industry could soon be able to offer employees the chance to gain universally-recognised qualifications through their own tailor-made in-house training programmes – and attract new government funding in the process.

The region’s bosses, who employ 58,300 workers at 1,500 locations, have already had a major say in the overhaul of the industry’s National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs), which have been revamped to make them more flexible and more relevant to the work place. But now Improve, the food and drink sector skills council, wants to go a step further by directly linking in-house training to the new qualifications.

At present, 80 per cent of training within the sector happens in-house, but only 15 per cent leads to an externally accredited qualification.

Jack Matthews, chief executive of Improve, said: “In the food and drink industry we have had a rather chaotic situation where dissatisfaction with the structure of vocational qualifications has led to different employers running different training courses in isolation from one another. This has contributed to a perceived shortage of skills that can transfer from job to job, and in some cases has posed a barrier to career progression for employees.

“Everyone agrees that the skills provision across all industries should be more streamlined and more employer-focused. Encouraging employers to run training programmes as part of an agreed industry-wide framework which leads to accredited qualifications should be one key route to achieving this. What is more, this could benefit employers financially by attracting government funding for the training they provide.”

A new Qualifications ‘Framework for Achievement’ in Food and Drink Manufacturing was unveiled by Improve this summer. From September, food manufacture NVQs, SVQs and other vocationally-linked qualifications will be implemented using this immensely flexible system, which comprises bite-sized units that learners can mix and match to build towards a tailor-made qualification.

Mr Matthews argues that linking in-house training programmes with this framework will allow for even greater flexibility, which will in turn give more scope for meeting the skills demands both of specific employers and the industry as a whole.

He also believes making the link between in-house training and the Qualifications Framework will prove straightforward. “Employers played a major part in recommending to us the skills and standards they wanted the new qualifications to promote,” he added. “They are exactly the same skills and standards employers are already striving for in the training they provide.”

Issued on behalf of Improve, the food and drink sector skills council, www.improveltd.co.uk , by Nexnet PR, Leeds, www.nexnet.co.uk. For further information call Nexnet on 0113 247 0029 or email katrina.gill@nexnet.co.uk