Improve has won a new mandate to continue to deliver the strategic reforms and solutions to help drive up food and drink industry performance and productivity.
The sector skills council for food and drink manufacturing and associated supply chains has been relicensed by the government to continue work in the sector.
Improve chief executive Jack Matthews said: “Since Improve was created five years ago to represent the whole of the UK food and drink industry, the backing and commitment of employers and the support of learning providers have allowed us to place our industry at the very forefront of innovation in skills.
“Working together with our employers, Improve has achieved real, tangible results for our industry. We have driven the reform of apprenticeships, qualifications and training across the UK, established a pioneering and highly successful National Skills Academy for Food and Drink Manufacturing, and as a result have increased the total amount of vocational learning undertaken and raised the levels of accredited skills achieved. This in turn has contributed to the sectors’ increased efficiency and productivity. The government has praised this work and has now given Improve a clear and unequivocal mandate for it to continue to benefit food and drink businesses.
“Among our most recent successes, we have seen registrations for the new-style NVQ in Food Manufacture account for nearly half of all manufacturing and processing NVQs being undertaken, with this reported to be the fastest growing of all processing NVQs. In Scotland, we have broken down a funding barrier to secure an unprecedented allocation of £1.5 million from the government for 656 new modern apprenticeship places - up from just 15 funded places a year ago.
“Our mission is to achieve world-class skills for a world-class sector, and by increasing our engagement with employers we plan to go on increasing the level of skills and the number of people developing their skills at all levels in the industry. We aim to help increase productivity for everyone, from apprentices to senior managers, and to continue addressing the particular needs in food science and technology to close skills gaps and reduce unfilled vacancies.”
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