Skills gap in food and drink frustrated by fragmentary solutions

That was the collective view of industry leaders involved in food and drink manufacturing training speaking at the Big Video Debate on ‘Plugging the skills gap’ organised by the Food Manufacture Group at the Foodex show at the National Exhibition Centre, near Birmingham earlier this week (March 25).

The latest estimates put the number of new recruits needed by the sector to replace those retiring or leaving between 2010 and 2020 at more than 170,000.

“There are a lot of good initiatives going on out there,”​ said Jon Poole, ceo of the Institute of Food Science & Technology, the independent qualifying body for food professionals.

“What I’d like to see is things happening in a unified and collaborative way. Because what I see at the moment is a lot of good things happening almost in competition with each other rather than all pulling together to the same end.”​

Imbalance in skills equation​

Derek Williams, standards and quality director with food industry qualifications body FDQ, highlighted the “disconnect” ​in perception about skills between educators and employers. “Up to 75% of educators believe that students are ‘job ready’ and only 40% of employers would actually agree,”​ said Williams.

“Our problem is in fact based upon decades of imbalance in the skills equation. This imbalance between the demand for skills and the supply of skills is really at the root of the problem.”​

Williams added that the skills gap in the sector was complex issue that would not be easily resolved.

“The challenge must be taken seriously and fragmentary approaches or solutions have limited effects and are generally not very sustainable,”​ said Williams. “Only a strategic and joined up approach to the challenge of the skills gap will be successful in making any real difference.”​

The diverse and fragmented nature of the industry itself were part of the problem too in creating the scale of response necessary to properly address the problem, added Justine Fosh, ceo for the National Skills Academy for Food and Drink and food and drink sector skills council Improve.

‘Plethora of trade organisations’​

“There are a plethora of different trade organisations representing the views of their members but with over 30 of them just in a few areas of the food industry, it is difficult to get that scale,”​ said Fosh. “It’s difficult for young people to understand the industry and it is also difficult for politicians … and sometimes it’s difficult for the industry to understand itself.”​

Fosh argued for greater collaboration and used the example of the dairy sector to highlight what can be achieved by various organisations and companies working together. She also cited the new food engineering Masters course at Sheffield Hallam University as a good example of the industry – including 42 companies – working collaboratively together.

“What we  need as an industry is collaboration and a strategic joined up approach, which is why we are still hoping that soon we will get an industrial partnership for the food and drink industry that will allow the industry to come together and generate real activity from that scale,”​ said Fosh.

Meanwhile, The New Young Talent of the Year award​ is being launched in this year’s Food Manufacturing Excellence Awards. Entries open on Thursday May 1 and close on July 31. The winners will be revealed at an awards evening at the Park Lane Hilton in London on November 20.

For more details call Rebecca George on 01293 610422 or email rebecca.george @wrbm.com.