Industry acts on skills shortages
Improve, the sector skills council for the food and drink industry, is in talks with several key industry players interested in backing its initiatives.
This follows a high profile meeting between Improve, secretary of state for education and skills Ruth Kelly, and representatives from blue chip companies including Unilever, Arla, Nestlé, Coca-Cola and the leading supermarkets, to discuss skills shortages.
Improve's commercial director Paula Widdowson said she was greatly encouraged by the response from companies to initiatives including the Green Card, Skills Academy and Schools Challenge, which are all designed to raise the industry's profile and combat skills shortages.
“Sainsbury's and Tesco were both interested in all three [initiatives] and want to get involved,” said Widdowson. “I will be speaking to Kraft about the academy and Cadbury about the schools challenge - they are all very much on board.”
Minister for schools Phil Hope also attended the meeting and agreed to launch the initial online phase of the Skills Academy in June, as well as to look at the business plan for the Green Card scheme with a view to getting it into schools and further education, said Widdowson.
“It was a really useful meeting. All the delegates agreed that employers were central to the educational agenda and in making sure it is more focused and delivers proper work experience,” she added. “It's now up to the employers to engage so we can make it all happen.”
As science is becoming increasingly unpopular with students, there was also discussion about whether it should be taken as a combined subject or as three separate subjects at GCSE level.
Improve's Schools Challenge, which involves schools in an area working with local employers on projects including new product development, was a good way of getting children interested in science-based subjects early on, said Widdowson.
“The idea is to get them interested so that maybe later on, when they've finished wanting to be rock stars, they will come back to it. It's about putting the passion in at that age and using it as lever to get them into the industry later,” she explained.
Meanwhile, Improve welcomed new measures announced in the recent budget to boost skills. They include an entitlement to free further education up to level three for people up to the age of 25; adult learning grants; 3,000 extra science teachers recruited; and a move to ensure further education colleges work more closely with employers to meet industry demand.
“Currently around 19% of the people employed in food and drink manufacturing have no formal qualifications, and 15% have nothing higher than a level one,” said chief executive Jack Matthews. “This new measure will help to fill crucial skills gaps that currently hinder productivity and profitability.”
Taking steps to encourage an interest in science at a young age would create a pool of high quality future recruits to the sector, he added.
However, he was cautious about the pledge of extra funding for skills councils to recruit low skilled women in areas with skills shortages. “It will be interesting to see further details regarding the statement that employers will be expected to match this government funding,” he said.
