Launched as a response to the current national skills shortage in the UK baking and hospitality industry, the National Bakery School (NBS), based at London South Bank University wants to find out from employers in the sector whether there is real demand for a new apprenticeship standard for ‘Baker’ (Level 2) and ‘Advanced Baker’ (Level 3), potentially starting in January 2020.
David Hall, managing director of The London Bread & Cake Company, said: “We welcome this proposal by the National Bakery School to introduce two new baking apprenticeship standards to the baking and hospitality industry that will help us combat the current skills gap in the sector.
“The current national skills shortage in the sector means that employers are spending more than £6 billion a year, mainly on recruitment activities, in an effort to combat the problem.
“The new apprenticeship standards will become part of a solution to the national skills gap problem, by helping employers reduce spend in the long-term, and provide support for recruiting new talent to the sector.”
'More agile'
It is expected that training and development offered by the National Bakery School will result in a “more agile, loyal, motivated and productive workforce, fully equipped to rise to new challenges and drive organisations forward”.
Elaine Thomson, course director at the National Bakery School, said: “LSBU’s National School of Bakery is an institution with a proud 125-year history of training bakers for the baking and hospitality sector, while working with employers to seek their views on shaping the delivery of bakery standards/programmes. We are keen to sound out the sector’s views, to establish the likely level of demand for these standards, while obtaining industry guidance concerning the best delivery method available.”
The University already has 20 approved apprenticeship standards and currently more than 700 apprentices enrolled on placements with industry across a variety of fields, ranging from building services engineering and architecture to digital marketing.
The University’s ambition is that, by 2020, 2,000 people will have completed apprenticeship and employer sponsored programmes at the Centre. This is part of LSBU’s strategy for supporting professional and technical learning in the local community.
LSBU is inviting all relevant stakeholders to give their feedback on the new Apprenticeship proposals here.
