Member Article

New Skills Academy for North East food workers

Food and drink manufacturing bosses in the North East are set to benefit from a new training initiative following the online launch of the National Skills Academy for Food and Drink Manufacturing. The £4.4million academy has been co-ordinated over the last two years by Improve, the sector skills council for food and drink. The academy aims to change and improve the way training is delivered in the sector, helping to strengthen the North East’s food and drink manufacturing industry, which employs around 14,200 workers in 400 companies.

David Hickman, Improve’s operations manager for the North East, said: “The skills academy is a vital step in meeting the skills challenges that the food and drink manufacturing sector faces. “It has been designed by those in the industry, and it will provide an effective and accessible system to deliver high-quality, relevant training.”

Following the launch of the academy’s online training and information centre, employers can now access information designed to help deliver training to their staff, including a tool that locates available funds for skills development. From September, there will be a selection of courses available to buy directly through the website, from short Learn Direct modules in subjects such as basic hygiene, to more in-depth courses designed specifically for the academy.

The academy is only the fourth of the government’s new style National Skills Academies dedicated to industry sectors, and it is expected to help set the template for many more to follow in other industries.

The Skills Academy for Food and Drink Manufacturing can be accessed by logging on to www.foodanddrink.nsacademy.co.uk.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .