Devon’s Black Farmer addresses MPs

Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones hosted a recent event alongside farming minister James Paice at the House of Commons. The event raised the profile of businesses working in the food supply industries and their critical skills and training needs. Talking about his career and the Young City Farmers scheme he runs annually to encourage young city dwellers to consider joining the farming industry Wilfred said: “This is something I feel very passionate about, and it’s the reason I agreed to come here to speak today. “What we expect from people in power and of influence is to make sure that the industries represented here become higher up on their list of priorities. “All too often we are at the bottom of the pile, and that has to change.” The event was attended by nearly 100 MPs, top civil servants and industry leaders. Peter Martin is CEO of Lantra the sector skills council for the Land-based and environmental industries. He explained: “Many policy makers emphasise industries such as manufacturing, IT and bio-technologies - they need to include the food supply industry as well. “We employ one-in-seven of the working population and we’re the largest manufacturing sector in the UK economy. “We need to make the argument for our place as a priority industry which is central to meeting the challenges of climate change and a growing global demand for food. All of this means we need highly-skilled people and we must take their training and development seriously.” Following the event An Early Day Motion has been posted by South West MP Andrew George calling on the government to give the food supply sector a higher priority. Ends For further information contact Richard Fern 02476 858418 Note to editors The EDM can be found at - http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=41781&SESSION=905 Lantra • Lantra is the Sector Skills Council for land-based and environmental industries, working to ensure these businesses access the training, qualifications, skills and knowledge they need. • An independent UK organisation, Lantra works with employers and the UK’s governments to address the skills and productivity needs of approximately 230 businesses (one in every ten UK businesses) in: agriculture; animal care; animal technology; aquaculture; environmental conservation; equine; farriery; fencing; fisheries management; floristry; game and wildlife management; land-based engineering; horticulture, landscape and sports turf; production horticulture; trees and timber and veterinary nursing. • By working together with the sector, Lantra leads research on skills issues and business needs, sets national standards and develops qualifications to meet modern business needs and help businesses grow through skills. • For more information see www.lantra.co.uk. Improve Improve is part of the network of sector skills councils established by the government to take the lead in driving up skills in the workplace in order to promote higher productivity and stronger competitiveness for UK businesses in the global market. Funded primarily by the government, sector skills councils are also supported by employers whose needs they represent when stimulating change among the providers of education and skills. Sector skills councils work closely with employers to promote greater commitment to improving skills in their workforces, and with schools, colleges, universities, and private training organisations to improve the provision of basic skills training and to make vocational and occupational training more relevant to the modern commercial climate. For further information, go to www.improve-skills.co.uk. Skillsmart Retail Skillsmart Retail is the Sector Skills Council for Retail. Part-funded by Government and led by retailers, it aims to be the recognised authority on retailers’ skills needs and priorities. Its mission is to drive a step change in skills levels in retail by: • Making a compelling case for the formal recognition of retail skills • Uniting retailers to simplify and improve access to the skills system • Improving the quality of new recruits into the retail sector • Raising the skills levels of the existing workforce in retail operations www.skillsmartretail.com For more information contact Ed Holmes on 0207 462 5576 or email ed.holmes@skillsmartretail.com

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