News article

8 August 2012

Food industry echoes findings of 'report on jobs'

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PRESS RELEASE

Commenting on the findings of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and KPMG 'Report on Jobs' which was released today and reports that recruiters are seeing the strongest rise in demand for permanent staff in engineering roles, FDF Director of Communications, Terry Jones, said:

“The findings of this latest report on the UK jobs market echo what we know about the food and drink manufacturing sector where there is significant demand for engineering skills."

“We anticipate that in future we will need more engineers in our sector to help meet growing demand for British food and drink, especially in overseas markets."

“In light of this, we are actively working across our industry to create a steady flow of skilled graduates to meet this growing demand. We have recently announced, in partnership with the National Skills Academy for Food and Drink, and with co-investment from the UK Commission for Employment and Skills through the employer investment fund, the UK's first dedicated food and drink engineering degree. The degree will be offered by Sheffield Hallam University, with first entrants anticipated in September 2014."

Notes to Editors

  1. The Food and Drink Federation (FDF) is the voice of the food and drink manufacturing industry – the UK's largest manufacturing sector. For more information about FDF and the industry we represent visit: www.fdf.org.uk
  2. The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and KPMG Report on Jobs
  3. About the National Skills Academy for Food & Drink:
    The National Skills Academy for Food & Drink is a sister organisation to Improve, the skills council for the UK food and drink sector. The Academy was created in 2007 to facilitate sector specific training provision to drive up sector productivity and competitiveness in line with employer needs. Training provider organisations that become part of the Academy undergo rigorous quality checks and include both publicly and privately funded learning centres. Each delivers some aspect of skills development for the food and drink manufacturing industry as a whole, and/or specialist skills for one of its various sub-sectors.
  4. UKCES - This project has received co-investment from the UK Commission for Employment and Skills through the Employer Investment Fund.

More information

Nicki Hunt on or 020 7420 7132 - nicki.hunt@fdf.org.uk
Rebecca Wilhelm or 020 7420 7140 - rebecca.wilhelm@fdf.org.uk
Avni Raval or 020 7420 7131 - Avni.Raval@fdf.org.uk
Anna Taylor or 020 7420 7118 - anna.taylor@fdf.org.uk

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