Helping employers to drive up profits through skills Sun, 01 Aug 2010 04:10:33 GMT en-gb http://www.nexnet.co.uk/ will.swales@nexnet.co.uk (Will Swales) PHP 5.2.13 A pilot scheme aimed at helping small businesses in Northern Ireland tackle the effects of the recession has been hailed a success by employers. Improve, the food and drink sector skills council has been working with five companies employing between 20 and 60 people, carrying out a skills needs analysis programme to identify training which would help bolster performance.   Funded by the Department for Employment and Learning, the scheme looks to help time-strapped managers analyse workfo... http://www.nexnet.co.uk/news/5/502/pilot-scheme-helps-northern-irelands-small-businesses-flourish.html http://www.nexnet.co.uk/news/5/502/pilot-scheme-helps-northern-irelands-small-businesses-flourish.html Thu, 24 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT The head of the UK’s food and drink sector skills council says George Osborne’s first budget as Chancellor had lain down the gauntlet to industry to work the country’s economy back to prosperity. Jack Matthews, chief executive of Improve, said: “Everyone knew there would be pain in this Budget. But I agree that this is a Budget which rewards work and encourages enterprise. What I see is the government handing down a challenge to all of us, collectively and individually, ... http://www.nexnet.co.uk/news/5/501/onus-on-industry-to-work-its-way-to-prosperity-says-skills-chief.html http://www.nexnet.co.uk/news/5/501/onus-on-industry-to-work-its-way-to-prosperity-says-skills-chief.html Tue, 22 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT I was interested to read the thoughts of David Gregory, chairman of Assured Food Standards, on how the sector skills councils associated with the food and drink industry should work more closely and co-ordinate their efforts to “enable skills transfer across the industry” (We need a new approach to lifelong skills learning, June 2010). I agree with him wholeheartedly. Indeed, Improve has been pursuing this very issue with our counterparts at other sector skills councils as well as t... http://www.nexnet.co.uk/news/5/506/letter-to-food-manufacture.html http://www.nexnet.co.uk/news/5/506/letter-to-food-manufacture.html Mon, 21 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT Women wanting a career with prospects and opportunities to rise through the ranks should consider the food and drink industry.   As the industry is dominated by men - the male share of the workforce is expected to rise from 67 per cent to 74 per cent by 2017 according to the latest Working Futures survey - the industry is looking at ways to support women build a successful career and show them that opportunities do exist.   Clare Keegan, business development manager at Improve and... http://www.nexnet.co.uk/news/5/499/food-and-drink-is-the-career-for-women-with-high-aspirations.html http://www.nexnet.co.uk/news/5/499/food-and-drink-is-the-career-for-women-with-high-aspirations.html Thu, 17 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT Employers and employees in the Scottish food and drink industry are being urged to consider a new qualification aimed at tackling shortages in qualified food scientists and technologists. In August, Glasgow Metropolitan College will become the first college in Scotland to offer the new Higher National Certificate (HNC) in Food Science and Technology, with the option to continue studying for a Higher National Diploma (HND) from August 2011. The HND course has just been validated by the Scottish ... http://www.nexnet.co.uk/news/5/490/new-course-promises-to-boost-skills-and-broaden-horizons-in-food-and-drink.html http://www.nexnet.co.uk/news/5/490/new-course-promises-to-boost-skills-and-broaden-horizons-in-food-and-drink.html Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT Food and drink companies have ‘reasons to be upbeat’ as the new coalition government begins to spell out its policies in detail, according to the head of the food and drink sector skills council. Jack Matthews, chief executive of Improve, said he had received assurances from ministers at a breakfast briefing held by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs that the government intended to ‘fully recognise’ the economic and strategic importance of the food an... http://www.nexnet.co.uk/news/5/489/food-and-drink-industry-has-reasons-to-be-upbeat-over-coalition-policies.html http://www.nexnet.co.uk/news/5/489/food-and-drink-industry-has-reasons-to-be-upbeat-over-coalition-policies.html Tue, 01 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT The head of the food and drink sector skills council has called on the new coalition government to make full use of what he called ‘a new-found activism’ on skills and training among employers. Responding to the publication of the Confederation of British Industry’s latest Education and Skills Survey, Improve chief executive Jack Matthews says it is clear how central skills have become to the business strategies of most companies.   He urged the new Conservative-Liberal... http://www.nexnet.co.uk/news/5/488/call-for-new-government-to-heed-employers-on-skills.html http://www.nexnet.co.uk/news/5/488/call-for-new-government-to-heed-employers-on-skills.html Thu, 27 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT Jack Matthews, chief executive of food and drink sector skills council Improve, has been appointed a director of the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework Partnership. The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) is an integrated lifelong learning framework which was set up in 2001 to recognise and embrace different types and modes of learning   It provides learners, learning providers and employers with a single reference point on all qualifications in Scotland, allowi... http://www.nexnet.co.uk/news/5/487/improve-chief-executive-takes-on-new-role.html http://www.nexnet.co.uk/news/5/487/improve-chief-executive-takes-on-new-role.html Mon, 24 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT Tim Lang and Charlie Clutterbuck’s claim that the food and drink industry should be given a central strategic role in the new government’s plans for economic recovery (Food can help cut the fiscal deficit, Monday 17 May) was a timely and welcome contribution to a debate that has been raging within the industry for months. Under previous regimes, the occupants of Whitehall made it perfectly clear that they saw food and drink as having little economic significance to this country. &n... http://www.nexnet.co.uk/news/5/486/letter-to-the-editor---the-guardian.html http://www.nexnet.co.uk/news/5/486/letter-to-the-editor---the-guardian.html Thu, 20 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT I could not agree more with regards to some of the points raised in last month’s Editor’s View (April 2010) about the image problems faced by the food manufacturing sector. Attracting young people into the industry is a long-standing problem. It is the image of the industry as low-paid and offering poor prospects that has led to the reliance on overseas workers in recent years.   Improve and other stakeholders in the industry are working hard to tackle this issue. The first b... http://www.nexnet.co.uk/news/5/478/letter-to-the-editor-of-food-manufacture.html http://www.nexnet.co.uk/news/5/478/letter-to-the-editor-of-food-manufacture.html Fri, 23 Apr 2010 00:00:00 GMT A Haggis maker is flying high after scoring a first for Scotland. David Candlish, a production operative at Grant Foods in Galston, Ayrshire, has become the first person in Scotland to complete a Level 2 Modern Apprenticeship.   And one of the first to congratulate him was Keith Brown MSP, minister for skills and lifelong learning.   Mr Brown took time out of his busy schedule to visit tinned haggis producers Grant Foods and present 35-year-old David with his certificate alongside... http://www.nexnet.co.uk/news/5/465/haggis-leads-the-way-in-new-modern-apprenticeship.html http://www.nexnet.co.uk/news/5/465/haggis-leads-the-way-in-new-modern-apprenticeship.html Fri, 16 Apr 2010 00:00:00 GMT Employers in the food and drink industry will be handed better access to advice and support on skills following a major restructuring of sector skills council Improve and the National Skills Academy for Food and Drink Manufacturing. Improve’s operations and marketing teams are being merged with the National Skills Academy management team to create a single employer-facing arm responsible for training delivery, engagement and communications.   The new team, which will be based at Im... http://www.nexnet.co.uk/news/5/464/improve-and-national-skills-academy-announce-restructure.html http://www.nexnet.co.uk/news/5/464/improve-and-national-skills-academy-announce-restructure.html Thu, 08 Apr 2010 00:00:00 GMT The importance of agriculture and food manufacturing to the UK’s economy will be re-examined following a call from sector skills councils Lantra and Improve for the government to acknowledge its impact.   A recent report commissioned by Whitehall and published by the UKCES, ‘Skills for Jobs: Today and Tomorrow’, suggests that both agriculture and food manufacturing were of low significance to the UK economy. It identifies other sectors, occupations and skills that the g... http://www.nexnet.co.uk/news/5/461/government-pressed-to-re-examine-food-policy.html http://www.nexnet.co.uk/news/5/461/government-pressed-to-re-examine-food-policy.html Thu, 01 Apr 2010 00:00:00 GMT Women working in the food and drink industry are being offered access to subsidised training in a bid to give them better access to higher paid, higher skilled careers. Improve, the food and drink sector skills council, and the National Skills Academy for Food and Drink Manufacturing have secured funding to re-launch the Women and Work programme which was first made available to food and drink companies in 2006.   The new expanded programme will offer grants of £650 which can be us... http://www.nexnet.co.uk/news/5/459/more-help-for-women-in-food-and-drink-industry.html http://www.nexnet.co.uk/news/5/459/more-help-for-women-in-food-and-drink-industry.html Wed, 31 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT The head of the UK’s food and drink sector skills council has warned that the goal of raising the bar on workplace skills risks being jeopardised by ‘confusing political priorities with economic ones’ and urged employers to make their voices heard. Responding to the publication of the government-commissioned National Strategic Skills Audit on Wednesday (March 17), Improve chief executive Jack Matthews said he was ‘concerned’ by what he described as the emphasis on ... http://www.nexnet.co.uk/news/5/453/skills-league-table-belies-importance-of-food-and-drink.html http://www.nexnet.co.uk/news/5/453/skills-league-table-belies-importance-of-food-and-drink.html Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT