Skills agency Improve is ‘on the right track’

The organisation, launched five years ago this June, has published the results of a survey undertaken to gauge employers’ views on its work to date. The report found that half of all employers who have worked with Improve believe the sector skills council has had a positive impact on the industry, with three quarters satisfied with Improve’s work overall and two-fifths stating that the organisation had a beneficial impact on their approach to training and qualifications. Welcoming the results, chief executive Jack Matthews (pictured) said the survey showed Improve was working on the right track, pointing out that no employer questioned said they were dissatisfied with Improve’s work. But he promised that as more and more food companies felt the pinch and resources became tighter, Improve would work even harder to respond to employers’ needs and deliver skills strategies that were affordable, efficient and effective. “We have come a long way in the past five years,” he said, “but there is no chance of us patting ourselves on the back and saying job done. We were set up to identify, represent and act upon the views of the industry when it came to skills, and ultimately deliver a coherent, effective, fit-for-purpose approach to training and staff development that offered real business benefits. We have had to start from scratch in terms of building trust among employers and demonstrating that we can have a positive effect. “Now we are facing a new challenge. The skills agenda set five years ago came from a climate of prosperity and ambition, when the idea of training for a world-class workforce was seen as essential to maintaining a competitive edge in a burgeoning global market. Things have changed, and although world-class skills must remain the target, survival is increasingly the watchword for most companies. As such, the weight of importance we need to give to the skills agenda should, if anything, increase. It is going to be even more important going forward for companies to invest prudently and appropriately in their staff. It will be the talents of individuals that make the difference in ensuring a business operates in as fit and efficient a manner as possible. Improve’s role will be to focus on making training and qualifications even more effective, more accessible and more affordable, and working with employers to give them the best chance of getting the staff they need.” Improve says among its key achievements to date are the establishment of the National Skills Academy for Food and Drink Manufacturing, the gaining of cross-sector support for Sector Skills Agreements covering England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and the far-reaching reforms of National Qualifications, Apprenticeships and Modern Apprenticeships to give employers more control and more choice over the training involved. But Matthews promised much more to come over the next year or two. “In terms of qualifications, we listened to what employers said about them being too rigid and not relevant enough to the work place, and made appropriate changes,” he said. “But we are now ready to go a step further. The new Qualifications and Credit Framework will introduce a unit-based system of training and assessment which for the first time will realistically allow all on-the-job training to be matched against an external qualification. By the end of the year, we expect to have 1600 units approved and ready for use, which will see another huge leap in the control employers have over qualifications as well as open up more funding streams for day-to-day training. “The National Skills Academy will continue to grow, with specialist training networks developing to offer innovative, bespoke, business-focused training solutions to all types of food and drink business and all areas of operation. And Improve will continue to grow as well; we are looking to expand on our research and data services to become more of an information hub and a mouthpiece the industry can use in a range of different ways in all matters related to skills and personnel development.”