Partner Article

North East employers offered input on qualifications

Food and drink manufacturers in the North East are being invited to build a new approach to recognising the achievements of their workers.

Improve, the food and drink sector skills council, is working to introduce new occupational qualifications which it says will make it easier for companies to access appropriate training and reward staff development. Employers are being urged to join sector groups to get advice and guidance on the new qualifications.

Despite being one of the region’s largest industries with 15,600 employees and an annual turnover of £1.4 billion, 16% of workers in the North East’s food and drink sector have no qualifications at all.

David Hickman, Improve’s operations manager in the North East, said: “In the current economic climate, investing in the skills of staff is one of the best things any company can do to keep productivity on an upward curve. But food and drink manufacturing is a very diverse industry and there is an ongoing need to keep developing qualifications to meet the changing skills needs of the industry.

“Now the shackles are off. The government has authorised a more flexible approach and we have the opportunity to introduce, in addition to existing qualifications, a whole new framework which can be designed around competency skills for real jobs, and be more accessible and more achievable.

“To get the best out of this new opportunity, employers must tell us what they want.”

Employers are invited to attend consultation meetings to be scheduled for early next year. Alternatively, opinions and ideas can be submitted online at the Improve website.

For further information go to www.improve-skills.co.uk.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .