Food and drinks manufacturing sector skills council Improve trials self-accreditation for in-house training

A scheme to enable tailor-made, in-house training programmes to be self-accredited is being trialled across the food and drinks manufacturing industry.

Improve, the sector’s skills council, is working with one of the UK’s largest food companies to standardise the vocational qualifications system by linking in-house training programmes to a new framework. The new system, ‘Framework for Achievement’, was unveiled by the council in May.

Next month, the National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs), Scottish Vocational Qualifications (SVQs) and other vocationally linked qualifications will be incorporated into the system, along with in-house training.

According to Improve, 80% of training within the sector is currently in-house, and only 15% leads to an externally accredited qualification.

Jack Matthews, chief executive of Improve, said: “Dissatisfaction with the structure of vocational qualifications has led to employers running different courses in isolation from one another.

“Everyone agrees that skills provision across all industries should be more streamlined and employer-focused. Encou­raging employers to run training programmes as part of an agreed industry-wide framework that leads to accredited qualifications should be one key route to achieving this.”