FDF calls on food manufacturers to sign up to apprenticeship pledge

28th October 2011, 11:15am

The Food and Drink Federation (FDF) is calling on food manufacturers to sign up to its pledge and contribute to increasing the number of apprenticeship opportunities in the food and drink manufacturing sector.

On 27 October FDF, in partnership with the National Skills Academy for Food and Drink and the National Apprenticeship Service, FDF hosted a workshop for food manufacturers to inform them of the benefits that apprentices can bring to their businesses, such as increased productivity, improved competitiveness and a motivated workforce.

When companies sign up to the pledge they will benefit from: reduced administrative burdens - FDF and its partners will support food manufacturers through the process of developing and implementing an apprenticeship programme; an optimised funding stream – we will ensure companies have access to the maximum funding available to upskill their workforce at all ages and levels; as well as access to high quality training providers to meet the needs of individual food and drink manufacturers.

At the workshop Kraft Foods apprentices Calum Marnock, FDF's Apprentice of the Year, and Ben Larkin spoke about their first hand experiences of being an apprentice. 

They were joined by Mike Hensman and Graham Briggs from the National Apprenticeship Service; Allan Wheelright, HR director at William Jackson Food Group; Justine Fosh; skills solutions director at the National Skills Academy for Food and Drink; Tim Hammond; senior assessor at Poultec Training Ltd; and  Angela Coleshill, FDF's director of competitiveness.

Angela Coleshill, FDF's director of competitiveness, said: "The future sustainability of the food industry is highly dependent on the skills of its workforce and its ability to innovate. With over a third of the workforce due to retire in the next 5 years, and the current shortage of technicians, apprenticeships will be a key mechanism for the industry to attract talent for the future.

"There is certainly appetite for investment in skills, which is why FDF members are taking collective action to help us build a pool of talented apprentices that can be developed and deployed across the industry – building skills for the future."

Justine Fosh, director at the National Skills Academy for food & drink, added: "The National Skills Academy for Food and Drink is delighted to be supporting the FDF's apprenticeship pledge.

"In the food industry, in the past apprenticeships have been seen as mainly relevant to engineering roles but this is simply not the case - there are now apprenticeships for the food sector that cover the whole range of job roles in the industry - from craft baker to continuous improvement manager, meat processor  to milling operative.

"Through the FDF apprenticeship pledge we can assist any food business who wants to understand more or is interested in expanding their apprenticeship activity. In addition we can advise on which training providers have the necessary technical skills to support delivery from a network of over 65 food and drink specialist training providers."

Related Articles:

• 13 Oct 2011 - FDF Community Partnership Award winners announced
• 21 Jan 2011 - FDF appoints new director of communications
• 27 Oct 2009 - FDF appoints food safety and science director
• 08 Jul 2009 - No health crunch on product innovation, says FDF
• 19 May 2009 - FDF appoints nutrition manager
• 26 Mar 2009 - FDF hosts 56th sweet conference
• 12 Jan 2009 - FDF appoints new director of sustainability
• 27 Nov 2008 - FDF slash carbon emissions by 17%
• 25 Apr 2008 - FDF hosts BCCC Technology conference
• 07 Apr 2008 - Food and Drink Federation open awards entry
• 31 Oct 2007 - FDF launches environmental plan

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