Helping employers to drive up profits through skills
17th Dec 2008
New skills champion for the south of England
Louise Codling has been appointed operations manager for Improve, the food and drink sector skills council, with responsibilities for the south of England.
Working to identify the skills needs of food and drink manufacturers in the region, Louise will represent their needs to key stakeholders... more...
4th Dec 2008
Food industry 'Oscar' for apprentice Natalie
A factory worker from Norfolk has scooped a national prize for excellence in training at an awards ceremony dubbed the Oscars of the food and drink industry.
Natalie Scott, who lives in Brandon, won the Apprentice of the Year prize at the Food Manufacture Excellence Awards held at the glitzy Marrio... more...
24th Nov 2008
Food company boosts career opportunities through new online resource
Young people will soon have the chance to get a feel for the food and drink industry at the click of a mouse, through an exciting new online library of careers options.
Gibsons Foods, which manufactures fresh sandwiches and chilled foods, is the first food processing company to be featured on icoul... more...
24th Nov 2008
Morayshire worker celebrates Modern Apprenticeship success
A meat factory worker from Morayshire has been celebrating after completing one of the food and drink industry’s top training awards.
Ian Cargill, who works as a dispatch supervisor at Highland Country Foods in Forres, is one of the first people in the Highlands region to successfully complet... more...
11th Nov 2008
New qualifications for all
Operatives and frontline supervisors in food and drink manufacturing will soon be able to achieve new, publicly accredited qualifications, which for the first time in 20 years will mean workplace skills can be recognised outside the NVQ structure.
Employers in all industries will be able to get inv... more...
27th Oct 2008
Industry chief urges government to relax immigration restrictions
The government has been asked to relax labour market restrictions limiting industry’s access to migrant workers from Romania and Bulgaria in order to help ease “short-term” staff shortages facing the food and drink manufacturing sector.
Giving evidence before the government’... more...
23rd Oct 2008
Food industry draws up first plans for expanded Modern Apprenticeships
New Modern Apprenticeships aimed at attracting hundreds more recruits into the food and drink industry have been given the go-ahead by the Scottish Government.
Improve, the food and drink sector skills council, is one of the first two industry bodies to win approval for Level 2 Modern Apprenticeshi... more...
7th Oct 2008
Top training prize for Orkney seafood firm
One of the UK’s leading shellfish companies has scooped the inaugural training and development prize at this year’s Highland and Island Food & Drink Awards.
Orkney Fishermen’s Society, which supplies crab and lobster to the export and retail trade, won the Awards’ f... more...
30th Sep 2008
New industry standards look to a sustainable future
Employers are being invited to have their say in the development of a new set of industry standards focusing on sustainability in food and drink manufacturing and processing.
Improve, the food and drink sector skills council, has secured government funding to launch a far-reaching review of sustain... more...
10th Sep 2008
Three new faces to boost sector skills
Skills development for food and drink manufacturing is to be boosted by three new appointments at Improve, the sector skills council.
Adele Barlow has taken up the new role of national projects manager, striving to exploit skills initiatives at devolved government, UK government, and European gov... more...
1st Sep 2008
New aid to forge links with local schools
Employers in food and drink manufacturing who want to forge better links with their local secondary schools have a new opportunity to open doors with the gift of a valuable teaching aid.
The Food and Drink Schools Challenge is a self-contained teaching aid on interactive CD ROM, which aims to intro... more...
21st Aug 2008
Skills chief calls for action on migrant workers
A leading industry figure has called for employers and ministers to engage in a “full and wide ranging debate” on the contribution migrant workers make to in the food and drink manufacturing sector after a new report warned that falling numbers could have a disastrous effect on the &poun... more...
5th Aug 2008
Improve develops new food safety training guidance
Food safety training in manufacturing and processing is the subject of new guidance that is now available for employers.
Improve, the food and drink sector skills council, has worked in partnership with the Food Standards Agency over the past six months to create guidance for food safety trai... more...
24th Jul 2008
Employers to discuss looming food scientist crisis
A summit is being planned for food and drink manufacturers to discuss the crucial issue of the shortage of food scientists and technologists in the sector.
Food and drink sector skills council Improve has joined forces with the Institute of Food Science and Technology (IFST) and Defra,... more...
22nd Jul 2008
SMEs accuse government of strangling skills innovation
Small and medium-sized food and drink manufacturers have called on the government to untangle the ‘spaghetti of bureaucracy’ that has ensnared the training system and free them to address the industry’s critical skills issues.
Representatives from 13 companies, including the likes... more...
16th Jul 2008
Improve strengthens development team
Food and drink sector skills council (SSC) Improve has strengthened its development team with the recruitment of a skills project manager and the promotion of an existing team member.
Helen King has been appointed to the newly-created role of skills project manager. Her key responsibilities include... more...
24th Jun 2008
Ipswich students first to graduate from new food and drink scheme
School pupils in Ipswich have become among the first in the country to graduate from a pioneering new training scheme designed to provide a better understanding of the world of work.
Fifteen Year 11 pupils from Chantry High School, Thurleston and Claydon have successfully completed a Young Apprenti... more...
19th Jun 2008
North-west food and drink employers urged to play ‘The Game’
Food and drink manufacturers in the north-west will be the first in the country to benefit from a new initiative designed to help companies boost profitability through the implementation of lean manufacturing techniques.
‘The Game’ has been devised by Food North West, with the support o... more...
12th Jun 2008
Employers urged to reap the business benefits of training
Food and drink employers firmly believe that training brings tangible benefits to their business – yet less than a fifth of enterprises in the sector have a formal training budget.
That’s according to new research carried out by the food and drink sector skills council, Impr... more...
3rd Jun 2008
New body boosts employers’ voice in skills debate
Businesses in Scotland have been given a new voice to help influence national policy on education, training and skills.
The Alliance of Sector Skills Councils Scotland (TASSC Scotland) has been set up to represent the interests of employers in the implementation of the Scottish Government’s S... more...
2nd Jun 2008
Highland companies turn to women for management expertise
A unique training initiative aimed at boosting the number of women managers in Scottish industry has produced its first graduates in the Highlands region.
Three women employed in the food manufacturing industry in Morayshire have just completed courses as part of the Women and Work scheme, a govern... more...
27th May 2008
Rachael to boost awareness of opportunities in food and drink
Food and drink sector skills council, Improve, has appointed Rachael Owen as skills development advisor.
The role will see Rachael take responsibility for Improve’s Careers Information Service, promoting the benefits of learning and providing potential employees with information about j... more...
27th May 2008
Poultry producers to benefit from revamped qualification
A brand new, flexible and cost-effective training programme is to be launched to help poultry processingcompanies improve their post-mortem inspection capability.
Food and drink sector skills council Improve has worked with the Meat Hygiene Service (MHS), its parent body the Food Standards Agency (... more...
9th May 2008
Food and drink graduate schemes take the biscuit
One of the biggest growth areas for graduate recruitment in the UK is the £74 billion food and drink manufacturing industry.
According to Improve, the food and drink sector skills council, this major industry – the largest of the UK’s manufacturing sectors - will need an additiona... more...
8th May 2008
Funding secured for basic skills training in Welsh bakeries
A food workers union in Wales has secured government funding to help boost the skills of staff in the country’s £1.7 billion food and drink manufacturing industry.
The Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU) has teamed up with Improve, the food and drink sector skills council, to d... more...
28th Apr 2008
Apprenticeship pilot lets dairy industry find cream of the crop
Attracting young people into any industry is a competitive business to say the least. For the dairy industry, doing battle with fashionable sectors like media or IT for the best talent coming out of schools and colleges can feel like David taking on Goliath.
The Young Apprenticeship in Food Manufac... more...
28th Apr 2008
New study to assess financial impact of migrant labour
Research into the economic impact of migrant workers on the UK’s food and drink manufacturing industry has been commissioned by Improve, the sector skills council.
It is the first study of its kind in the industry since 2005, when another Improve-led project found that just under 100 UK food ... more...
21st Apr 2008
MD urges industry to tackle graduate shortage
The head of leading cereals processor Nairn’s Oatcakes has joined sector skills council Improve in urging employers to do more to attract graduate recruits into the food and drink manufacturing industry.
Managing director Mark Laing says forming better ties between the industry and education ... more...
8th Apr 2008
New apprenticeships launched in Northern Ireland
Food and drink manufacturing companies in all four UK nations can now ensure their workers have access to the most up-to-date training programmes, following the approval of a new apprenticeship for Northern Ireland.
Improve, the food and drink sector skills council, has launched a revamped food and... more...
2nd Apr 2008
SQA launches new qualification to boost food and drink industry
Efforts to revolutionise skills training in Scotland’s £7.6 billion food and drink processing industry have received a further boost with the launch of a new suite of national qualifications.
The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA), Scotland’s national body for qualifications... more...
19th Mar 2008
Scientist shortage gives Yorkshire businesses food for thought
A drop in the number of school pupils choosing science subjects at A-Level is causing a major headache for Yorkshire and Humberside’s food and drink manufacturers.
The region’s food and drink industry is thriving, with an annual turnover of £8 billion and steady year-on-ye... more...
17th Mar 2008
Improve strengthens team with new appointment
Improve, the York-based food and drink sector skills council, has appointed a new senior marketing executive.
Sarah Ogden, 28, will take responsibility for the development and implementation of Improve’s marketing and communications strategy. Her work will be instrumental in helping to increa... more...
27th Feb 2008
Champion apprentice urges industry makeover
An award-winning apprentice has told the government its plans to revitalise apprenticeships will only succeed if more is done to change young people’s perceptions of industry.
Reigning Apprentice of the Year Jonathan Pearson, 22, says plans to pour £1billion into apprenticeships... more...
27th Feb 2008
Skills shortages could threaten Mother’s Day chocolate boom
Despite a spring-time boom on the back of Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day, skills chiefs are warning that the UK’s confectionery industry could face an uncertain future.
Around £55 million is spent on chocolates each year for Mother’s Day, with approximately 4... more...
26th Feb 2008
Employers invited to snap up funds to boost staff training
Cash is being made available to help food and drink manufacturers in Yorkshire and Humberside increase productivity and profits by boosting the skills levels of existing staff.
The region’s Learning and Skills Council (LSC), the government agency responsible for funding training and q... more...
6th Feb 2008
Wales leads the way in food science
Science graduates are being offered a stepping stone towards high-flying careers in the food and drink industry thanks to new courses being launched in Wales.
The Food Science and Technology conversion course at Masters level is being developed as a result of a partnership between the Unive... more...
6th Feb 2008
New research to prove the business benefits of training
The first piece of UK-wide research that will highlight the business benefits of training in the food and drink manufacturing industry has been commissioned by sector skills council Improve.
Jack Matthews, chief executive of Improve, said: “The importance of skills is often recognised... more...
6th Feb 2008
Scottish Government considers plans to extend Modern Apprenticeships
Hundreds of new apprenticeship places could be created in the food and drink industry under proposals being considered by the Scottish Government.
Improve, the food and drink sector skills council, has submitted plans for Scotland’s first Level Two Modern Apprenticeship scheme to gove... more...
29th Jan 2008
Food and drink chief hails apprenticeship reforms
Boosting apprentice numbers could help the UK’s largest manufacturing sector generate £100 billion within a decade, according to the man in charge of the industry’s skills agenda.
Jack Matthews, chief executive of Improve, the food and drink sector skills council, warmly w... more...
23rd Jan 2008
Food manufacturers agree scheme to boost skills
Food and drink manufacturers in Northern Ireland are being urged to support a new scheme designed to boost skills across the sector.
The Food & Drink Training Council (FDTC), the partnership body in the province for Improve, the national food and drink sector skills council, has dev... more...
23rd Jan 2008
Haggis champ says supplies threatened by skills shortages
Haggis makers have warned that a shortage of skilled workers means they will struggle to meet rising demand if global interest in Scottish food continues to grow.
Sales of the “great chieftain o’the puddin-race”, as Robert Burns labelled the dish, are expected to generate ... more...
22nd Jan 2008
New guidelines to support food safety training
Food and drink manufacturing bosses are set to benefit from new industry guidelines that will clarify food safety training requirements.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is working in partnership with Improve, the food and drink sector skills council, to draw up definitive guidance for food ... more...
