Food and drink sector skills council Improve has pledged to step up its efforts to help employers develop a workforce capable of fighting off the recession.

The organisation, launched five years ago this June, has published its annual results following a positive survey of employers in the sector.

The skills council saw its finances shrink by more than £264,000 while its operating costs almost tripled. Profits for the year stood at £90,609 against £207,062 for the year ending May 31, 2007.

Its annual report also revealed that Improve had benefited hugely from the introduction of the National Skills Academy, its Labour Market Intelligence profiles and its apprenticeship programme, which has seen a 150 per cent uptake in the last year.

According to the latest figures, more than 500,000 people are employed across 11,000 workplaces following consistent growth for the past 14 years, contributing £22 billion to UK industry.

In a survey undertaken to gauge employers’ views on its work to date, Improve found that three-quarters of those surveyed were satisfied with Improve’s work overall and two-fifths stated that the organisation had created a beneficial impact on their approach to training and qualifications.

Chief executive Jack Matthews said the survey showed Improve was working on the right track, pointing out that no employer questioned said they were dissatisfied with Improve’s work. But he promised that as more and more food companies felt the pinch and resources became tighter, Improve would work even harder to respond to employers’ needs and deliver skills strategies that were affordable, efficient and effective.

“We have come a long way in the past five years but there is no chance of us patting ourselves on the back and saying job done," he said. "We were set up to identify, represent and act upon the views of the industry when it came to skills, and ultimately deliver a coherent, effective, fit-for-purpose approach to training and staff development that offered real business benefits. We have had to start from scratch in terms of building trust among employers and demonstrating that we can have a positive effect.

“Now we are facing a new challenge. The skills agenda set five years ago came from a climate of prosperity and ambition, when the idea of training for a world-class workforce was seen as essential to maintaining a competitive edge in a burgeoning global market. Things have changed, and although world-class skills must remain the target, survival is increasingly the watchword for most companies. As such, the weight of importance we need to give to the skills agenda should, if anything, increase. It is going to be even more important going forward for companies to invest prudently and appropriately in their staff.”

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