Food & Drink Skills Academy in career boost for women

The move follows the Academy's success in securing a fighting fund of £232,000 from the UK Commission for Employment and Skills to support training and development for up to 650 women employed in the sector in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The funds enable the Academy to offer businesses of any size discounts of around 70 per cent on training for women across a range of in-demand food industry skills including leadership and management, technical skills and interpersonal skills. Justine Fosh, the Academy's CEO, said the aim of the funding was to help businesses support the advancement of women in the sector: "Women remain under-represented across food and drink manufacturing's current UK workforce and they are particularly under-represented in management roles as well as in highly-valued engineering and technical roles." Businesses interested in offering additional development opportunities to their female staff are invited to contact the Academy's head of business development, Michael Taylor: m.taylor@foodanddrink.nsacademy.co.uk