Sector skills council, People 1^st, has the remit of enabling employers within the hospitality, leisure, travel and tourism sector to have the right people with the right skills and qualifications at the right time.

 

Their own recent research suggested staff turnover costs the hospitality and tourism sector nearly £900 million a year and accounts for 600,000 workers leaving it. Industry commentators cite a long list of ill-conceived qualification and education initiatives over the past 20 years, which have left employers confused and consequently indifferent to new ideas.

 

Today there are over 400 qualifications in hospitality, leisure, travel and tourism education in the sector. It is seriously overly complicated and there are too many courses producing employees without the specific skills employers want and the problem of skilled chefs shortages has been compounded by recent cultural factors, such as the growth of celebrity chef culture in the media.

 

This has put a surface gloss on a career in the sector. But once trainees come up against the harsh realities of long, hard hours in a hot kitchen, while their friends are out partying at the weekend, the result is disillusionment and continual drop out.

 

So what is being done?

 

Launched in March 2007 by People 1^st, the National Skills Strategy, aims to develop a chef qualification which is more practical than the current GNVQ, but which can still be delivered in colleges and so retain government funding. Moreover working with awarding bodies ensures the new qualification is nationally recognised.

 

Titled 'Raising the Bar', the strategy explains how employers and employees to find their way through the complexity of qualifications, as well as offering career maps which will clarify the required skills, experience, attributes and levels of pay. As a motivator, a good employer guide will also highlight those companies that have performed best in developing and looking after their staff.

 

People 1^st marketing director, Edward Davies, outlines the overall aims: 'The National Skills Strategy shows people there is clear career development, by use of the skills passports, which will show there is a route forward in developing careers. We are looking to develop people who have flair and managerial capability. Many people do make a good career and life out of the sector.'

 

Celebrity chef, Paul Bloxham is a case in point. With a combination of imagination and energy he has developed his own successful career with his successful gastro pub, The Tilbury, in Datchworth, as well as an outside catering company, Junction 8 and numerous demonstrations on TV cooking programmes. He has refined his own solutions to the sector's perennial problems: 'I have found it a successful practice to pay my chefs a higher wage to ensure I recruit quality. At the same time, in an effort to compensate staff for the unsocial hours, which are part and parcel of this business, I try to build in an extra half day off a week.'

 

Winning the bid for the Olympics in 2012 has raised the hospitality hurdles even higher and has to be seen as a unique opportunity to alter the international perception of the UK's welcome, which currently languishes at 17^th out of 35 developed countries.

 

As a consequence, London Mayor Ken Livingstone recently joined People 1^st chief executive Brian Wisdom to launch the London Skills Strategy. Livingstone made it clear London will be the focus of the world leading up to the 2012 Games.

 

As he said: 'We are expecting a huge increase in the many millions of tourists who currently visit our capital from abroad and from around the UK. We must grasp the opportunity to ensure we offer a first class welcome to everyone.'

 

Brian Wisdom summed up the challenges: 'There is a need, now, to act to deliver long term benefits to employers and employees. We have consulted with nearly 500 businesses to deliver workable solutions.'

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