10.03.2010
Improve, the Food and Drink Sector Skills Council, has been working closely with the Government to create a new website and advertising campaign designed to increase employer awareness and involvement in vocational reform.
The website is designed to inform all employers, including those in the food and drink industry, about changes to the vocational qualification landscape, and reforms to make all qualifications focus on choice, clarity and confidence.
The site is part of a joint project with Business Link and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, designed to ensure that each sector's businesses are at the heart of the changes.
Derek Williams, Development Director of Improve, said: “By asking you, the industry, what you want from your qualifications, we have for the first time, a demand-led approach. This has resulted in the development of two new families of qualifications for the food and drink industry, Improve Proficiency Qualifications (IPQs) and Improve Vocational Qualifications (IVQs), which have been developed by employers, for employers, meeting employer needs.”
The changes come amid a wider reform of vocational qualifications across all sectors. The Vocational Qualification Reform programme will see qualifications across every industry streamlined, so that they are easier to understand and access. The new set of bite-sized qualifications will have simpler titles and clear indicators of how long each one takes to complete, its difficulty and its subject matter.
Food and drink employers looking to find out more should go to www.businesslink.gov.uk/vocationalqualifications/ or for more information about Improve, IPQs and IVQs, go to www.improve-skills.co.uk/qualifications
