People 1st has announced that the number of people who do apprenticeships in hospitality and catering has more than doubled in the past four years and completion rates improved by almost 10 percent.
The latest figures indicate that more than 35,000 people began an apprenticeship in 2011-2012, compared with just 14,890 in 2007-2008, while in the last three years, completion rates have increased to 74 percent.
These impressive enhancements follow a series of awareness-raising initiatives by people 1st the benefits of apprenticeship, as well as to encourage more people and businesses to engage with them.
Brian Wisdom, CEO of people 1st, said that this was a fantastic result for an industry that traditionally has a high staff turnover rate.
"The industry should be extremely proud of the impressive gains made as the number of apprenticeship training undertaken and the huge improvement in the completion rates. While us industries have continued to improve, the completion rates across the rest of the economy have remained static.
"This is important because training play a vital role in career paths, ensuring that newcomers develop skills to equip with a career in the industry."
People 1st started the first strategy of apprenticeship in 2009 and since then has worked with employers, educators and educational institutions to promote apprenticeship, as well as to ensure that the skills students acquire during their apprenticeship to meet employers ' needs.
"The results were clearly successful. We've reviewed almost all of hospitality and catering apprenticeship frameworks to ensure that apprentices have employers skills needs, spanning the student, but also be flexible enough to reflect all parts of the industry, "said Brian.
"We had a lot of positive feedback from employers and providers who says that now students get the skills they need, and this clearly had a big impact on the number of apprenticeships offer employers."
People 1st also played an important role representing employers hosting in Government and to ensure that policy makers are aware of the contribution the industry makes to the overall economy.
"We've worked with employers throughout the industry for identifying skill gaps and roles that are difficult to fill, and have worked with partners to create programs such as hosting Guild Apprenticeship Awards recognise outstanding achievement among the trainees in the hospitality industry," said Brian.
"I have also represented the industry during the recent review of Richard in the future apprenticeship and cooperate with the National Apprenticeship Service for a range of other initiatives."
More recently people 1st has worked with Guild hosting for the action now! campaign, which aims to promote apprenticeship and increase engagement between students, employers and providers through five simple steps.
Brian said that the next step for people 1 was to work with the Guild hosting and employers to develop an industrial partnership for the visitor and tourism economy, which will provide a way for employers to offer real training including apprenticeships – that will benefit their businesses in a changing operating environment.
"I have submitted an initial offer to the Government to establish this partnership and always seek more support from employers who want to participate.
"It provides a new platform for employers and providers to take a more active role in the delivery of apprenticeship is just one of the goals that this new partnership will deliver."