Initiatives unveiled to boost flow of graduates into sector
As well as playing their part in helping to create 500,000 new apprenticeships in the food supply chain by December 2012, Food Drink Federation (FDF) president Jim Moseley has outlined a number of other initiatives that firms have committed to under the sector's Skills Action Plan for the Food Supply Chain.
Food and drink sector skills council Improve has calculated that 137,000 new recruits will be required by 2017 equivalent to 31% of the current workforce.
Speaking at a parliamentary reception at the House of Commons last month, Moseley said: "The biggest concern is the supply of talented and skilled individuals that will help our businesses grow in the future."
He added: "I am delighted that many [FDF] members have committed to significantly increasing the number of apprenticeship places next year."
The importance of attracting talent to UK food manufacture and raising skills levels to ensure it continues to thrive, have at last been recognised by the government.
Food minister Jim Paice remarked: "Future skills are very, very important. The fact that the industry came forward with those 500,000 places I think demonstrates just how serious they are about being a place where young people can seek and achieve fulfilling careers."
Paice said: "One of the things that is going to hold the industry back, if we are not careful, is the skills gap."
He added: "The Food Skills Action Plan is a DEFRA [Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs] business plan commitment and we want it to succeed. We will therefore play a key role in monitoring and reviewing progress of the plan over the next 1218 months and helping the industry to deliver."
But Moseley, who is also md of General Mills UK and Ireland, raised the spectre of university tuition fees rising to £9,000 next year combined with declining numbers of 18- to 24-year-olds hitting the numbers of graduates and increasing competition for them among employers.
"We can see something like a 14% decline in higher education students by 2020," warned Moseley. "So, given those changes, the food and drink industry has to compete even harder against industries that are perhaps perceived to be a bit more exciting."
He described the FDF's newly launched campaign Taste Success: a future in food, which seeks to promote career opportunities within the sector. "In phase one we have actually used some real-life case studies so that young people who have secured good jobs in the food and drink industry can share their experiences. In the second phase we will reach out and engage with younger people particularly through social media."
Moseley also outlined plans to deliver the FDF's 'graduate ambition', designed to boost the flow of highly-talented individuals into the sector. It will involve the FDF, with the financial and in-kind support of companies in the sector, working with one or two universities to create a new degree course that will equip graduates with the skills that the industry requires, he said.
