UK's horticulture industry Sector Skills Council, Lantra, will receive a five-year licence from the secretary of state for education, Rt Hon Charles Clarke MP, tomorrow (June 29), enabling it to continue leading the drive to boost skills in the UK's horticultural and landscaping industries.

Employers and representatives from across the 17 environmental and land-based industries that Lantra represents have been invited to celebrate the achievement at a VIP reception and skills debate at the House of Commons on Tuesday afternoon.

The award of the licence follows a successful two-year period that saw Lantra established as one of only five 'trailblazer' Sector Skills Councils in the UK. The network is expanding, and now comprises 23 fully licensed or aspirational Sector Skills Councils that make up the Skills for Business network.

Lantra is an employer-led organisation, representing the interests of over 400,000 businesses and 1.5 million workers in the environmental and land-based industries in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Both Rt Hon Charles Clarke MP and Alun Michael MP, minister for rural affairs, will speak at the event.

It will be followed by a skills debate, hosted by TV presenter Nick Ross, that will encourage employers and industry representatives to speak out on the skills issues that are affecting their

industries and debate how Lantra and industry can work together to address them.

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