Supporting the Food Industry with skills and innovation

1. Supporting the Food Industry with skills and innovation

2. Employers at the helm of standards and funding The role of Local Enterprise Partnerships in economic development and the Agri-food skills agenda The Shifting Sands of the Skills Agenda

3. The University of Lincoln Established in 2001 now has a student population of 11,722 and 1331 staff. Top 50 University The National Centre for Food Manufacturing is a satellite campus situated in Holbeach, in the heart of the largest concentration of Food Manufacturing businesses in the UK. Talent pipeline – Academy family

4. NCFM in The College of Science Lincoln Business School

5. Working with employers and partners (LEP, Sector Skills Council, sector bodies) to raise skills and support innovation Specialising in part-time flexible courses for food industry professionals, offering seamless progression: Functional Skills, Apprenticeships, Foundation Degrees, BSc (Honours) in Food Manufacture, post graduate Supporting 2,500 employees from 300 businesses each year Help to engage young people with the sector University Academy Holbeach 11-18 strategic partnership - a pipeline for new talent Lincoln UTC (University Technical College) NCFM – developing the industry’s talent and supporting innovation

6. Opportunities – examples from one recruitment website • Quality Technician - £18k to £26k • Quality/Technical Manager - £36k to £65k • Factory Manager - £55k to £75k • Multi-skilled Engineer -£35k-£38k • Engineering Manager - £60k- £85k • Logistics Manager - £40k to £60k

7. Supporting innovation • Industry - Microbiological Validation – (Various businesses) • Industry – Sensory Science – (Various businesses) • FSA – Effile Poultry Production and MSM (with FRPERC) • TSB – Assessing Quality in Mushrooms by Rapid Odour Measurement (Monaghue Mushrooms, Potato Council, others ) • TSB – FILMS Packaging innovation (Bakkavor, M&S, others) • TSB – Pdx Steam Infusion (Olympus Automation and partners) • ERDF - LCC - Sustain 2 – innovation and process improvement in Lincolnshire’s food and engineering sectors (SME) • FP7 - PicknPack – process automation – Manchester University, Marel and a consortium of European universities

8. Radical government reform to accelerate growth – placing local authorities and LEPs at the helm of economic development (‘No Stone Unturned’ – Heseltine report 2012) Devolution of central funding streams to the 39 LEPs Across LEP collaboration encouraged The role of Local Enterprise Partnerships in the skills and innovation agenda – drivers

9. Aim: sustainable economic growthPartnership: Private and public sector - industry led Strategy: Strategic Economic Plan and investment priorities Greater Lincolnshire Local Enterprise Partnership (GLLEP)

10. Agri-food Manufacturing Visitor economy Greater Lincolnshire produces/processes over 12% of the UK’s food supply including more than 70% of its seafood and 25% of its vegetables; the sector employs more than 68,000 people across the supply chain with a diverse mix of businesses including Cranswick Plc, Greencore, Moy Park, Walkers and Young’s Seafood alongside a wide range of primary producers (Source: GLLEP Strategic Economic Plan) The GLLEP’s key sectors for investment

11. Almost every: Size of business - home to several international major businesses, plus numerous middle sized and small businesses Type of produce – fish, meat, ready meals, fresh veg and fruit Type of processes – cooking, canning, freezing, chilling, brewing and drinks manufacture, milling, confectionery Home to: Brands – Princes, Tulip, Youngs, Kerry, Humdinger, McCains Own label – Bakkavor, Moy Park, Greencore, Produce World National and international food community - dynamic Food Manufacturing in Greater Lincolnshire –the greatest secret!

12. Headline ambition - ‘‘the greater Lincolnshire Agri-food sector will double its contribution to the economy by 2033 through an ambitious programme of investment in productive capacity, skills and knowledge and drive to increase in high value added sales to UK and export markets’’ Challenges: Infrastructure Access to research and innovation Skills, increasingly needed at higher levels Agri-food sector plan http://www.greaterlincolnshirelep.co.uk

13. Employer led with broad representation Informs the LEP of skills priorities and gaps - provides intelligence Seeks to implement solutions/lobby Covers the whole skills agenda, 14-19 education, adult learning and workforce skills and school links LEP Food Board – aligning priorities Delivering the skills strategy - Employment and Skills Board

14. Employment and Skills Board – intelligence

15. Funding for adult skills increasingly being channelled through the LEP (and skills capital) from the Skills Funding Agency Competitive and largely SME focussed (at the moment) Employment and Skills Board have a role in influencing national calls – working with employers and providers to ensure as much money as possible comes into Lincolnshire Changes to Skills Funding

16. Increased Apprenticeship uptake (bucking the national trend) With JCP developed a ‘food industry’ pathway to help the unemployed Secured £1.5 million of additional funding through for the skills (Skills for the Lincolnshire Workforce project) Championed ‘Have a go events’ and other activities aimed at raising awareness of food industry careers e.g. Boston College Catering students encouraged to think about careers in the food industry What has the Employment and Skills Board achieved – some examples

17. Working with the LEP and Food Board to produce a sector skills plan for our Agri-food industry to address known skills gaps, predict and plan for future need and fuel the talent pipeline with a vigorous flow of bright young people Aligning skills investment with a programme to secure additional applied research projects for GLLEP Agri-food companies Employment and Skills Board – future role

18. STRATEGY Strategies now in place to address skills shortages, engage young people to feed the talent pipeline and to build our applied research capability Transformational for the industry and the county – aspiration for world class AND EVERYONE WANTS TO WORK IN A WORLD CLASS INDUSTRY……….. STRATEGY STRATEGY

19. Please can we be your next generation of food engineers, technologists and managers ……please, please let me!