NEWS RELEASE: £2.9 MILLION INVESTMENT IN LAND-BASED BUSINESSES

£400 Available for Wales’ Land Girls

New Beekeeping Qualification Up and Flying Soon

Supporting the Skills of Scotland’s Women

£500,000 for Farmers, Foresters and Growers through LandSkills SE

Women and Work 2011-12: Supporting Women’s Skills Across the UK

Rewriting Horticulture Standards: Your Expertise Is Needed

CULTIVATING A CAREER IN HUMAN RESOURCES

When Lucy Taylor left her job as an editor of law employment books little did she expect to be buying her own copies of them ten years on. For the mum-of-one a new career in human resources has seen her flourish and horticultural retailer company Thomson Bros (Esher) Ltd is harvesting the benefits. What’s more, she has just been named the Women and Work Production Horticulture Winner of the Year. Since 2006, the Lantra Women and Work programme has worked with over 1212 companies in England to support 3,250 women develop their skills and progress their careers in industries where women are

NEW OFFICER DELIVERS FUNDING FOR YORKSHIRE’S FARMERS, FORESTERS AND GROWERS

LandSkills Yorkshire and Humber has recruited Diane Ratcliffe as a Programme Officer to help the region’s farmers, foresters and growers improve the competitiveness of their business through skills and business development. Bringing nine years of experience with funding projects, Diane’s most recent position was as a business adviser with Business Link Yorkshire, where she helped 600 learners access a wide range of training and development initiatives. Previous to that, she worked with Train to Gain and managed a UK Online Big Lottery Funded Project. Diane said: “I am really excited to be

£1 MILLION AVAILABLE FOR YORKSHIRE AND HUMBER’S FARMERS AND GROWERS…ANY TAKERS?

2 March 2011 More than £1 million is available for Yorkshire and Humber’s farmers, foresters and growers to help them improve the competitiveness of their business through skills and business development over the next year. LandSkills Programme Manager, Julie Hamilton, said: “LandSkills has been vitally important to farmers and growers in Yorkshire and Humber. Over the last two years close to 10,000 LandSkills events have supported more than 4,750 of the region’s farmers, foresters and growers. These workshops and discussion groups really help businesses improve their professionalism and

Inflexible apprenticeships place skills agenda at risk

Apprenticeships need to be more flexible if they are to meet the needs of business and hit government targets – Sector Skills Council Lantra reveals during Apprenticeship Week (7-11 February).Lantra is the Sector Skills Council for Land-based and Environmental Industries - representing industry and lobbying Government to support appropriate sector-based training. Its research has highlighted a range of problems with publicly funded Apprenticeship Frameworks. These include insufficient funding for over 19s, a bias toward non-work-based testing, over-stretched colleges and too much red-tape.

MPs targeted by food-supply skills EDM

MPs are being asked to sign an Early Day Motion calling upon the Government to address skills shortages in the food sector and recognise the importance of the food supply sector in its policy making. Andrew George MP and sector skills councils Lantra, Improve Limited and Skillsmart Retail launched the EDM following a parliamentary reception addressing the issue last week. Nearly 100 MPs, civil servants and industry leaders attended the event on the Terrace at the House of Commons. Speaking at the event Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Jim Paice said: “It’s important we get the

JOIN A MAJOR REVIEW OF MANAGEMENT STANDARDS FOR THE HORTICULTURAL INDUSTRY

Lantra Sector Skills Council has launched an extensive consultation examining management and technical roles, skills and responsibilities in the horticulture industry. Horticulture managers and professionals are being asked to complete an online survey as part of the industry’s National Occupational Standards (NOS).David Winn, Industry Partnership Manager at Lantra, says he believes the Standards are vital in reflecting the changes which have taken place in the past few years. He said: “The Standards are a great tool to use in the workplace as they can be used to identify the skills needed,

Value of land-based workers

The environmental and land-based sector offers a huge range of hands-on roles, both paid and voluntary. Whether you want to work in a living environment, care for animals and wildlife, nurture and grow plants and trees, be creative, or want to repair and maintain equipment, there is something for people of all ages and abilities.Agriculture is the world’s biggest business, and is at the core of the rural economy in Northern Ireland. It plays a central role in making sure the UK has enough food to eat and sustaining the environment. Greater emphasis is being placed on healthy eating, and a

OPENING DOORS TO NEW OPPORTUNITIES

Current economic conditions are tough on businesses everywhere, so to help those working within Wales’ environmental and land-based industries, Lantra Sector Skills Council is throwing open the doors of its Builth Wells office during the Royal Welsh Show (July 19-22).Industry experts, training providers and staff from the Farming Connect Skills Development Programme are working together so that the show’s visitors can easily find out about the training and support that is available to the sector, or ask about the many rewarding environmental and land-based careers, some of which will be

Chips, chips, glorious chips

Chips are a firm favourite in many parts of the world. But unlike some other countries, we make and eat our chips in a variety of ways: from chunky to skinny; as an accompaniment or on their own; with vinegar, brown sauce, tomato ketchup or even mayonnaise.Our long term love affair with the humble chip is believed to have first begun back in the 1790’s in France although it was not until the 1860’s that fish and chip shops began opening across the UK. Nowadays, an astonishing 277 million portions of chips are sold in UK fish and chip shops every year. Wilma Kane, Proprietor of Wilma’s

FARMER TO STEER £1.5M FUNDING PROGRAMME

Farmer, Geoff Payne, has been appointed to spearhead a £1.5million funding project in the East Midlands to boost the profits of farming and forestry businesses.LandSkills East Midlands, which is managed by Lantra Sector Skills Council on behalf of the east midlands development agency (emda), has appointed Geoff as Programme Manager to help agricultural, horticultural and forestry businesses access up to 70% funding towards a wide variety of training activities. Geoff, from near Gainsborough in Lincolnshire, knows first hand why skills development is crucial to business success having worked

FINAL MONTHS OF FUNDING FOR GROWERS

With less than one year to go, Lantra Sector Skills Council today (16 June) warned the South East’s growers not to miss out on getting their hands on part of a staggering £2.1m funding pot.16 June 2010 PR 1350 Having already helped 8322 farmers, foresters and growers improve their knowledge and skills, LandSkills South East, managed by Lantra on behalf of SEEDA, can still fund a number of training and development activities but only until March 2011. LandSkills South East Programme Manager, Shelley Newton, said: “The great thing about LandSkills is that the programme is extremely flexible

New Chair and Trustees Sought for Lantra Sector Skills Council

7 June PR 1369 New Chair and Trustees Sought for Lantra Sector Skills Council Lantra, the Sector Skills Council for environmental and land-based industries, is seeking a new Chair to replace its outgoing Chair, Dr Gordon McGlone. Four positions on Lantra’s 13 member Board are also being sought. Lantra is particularly targeting its 17 environmental and land-based industries in its search to replace Dr McGlone, who completes eight successful years in post at the end of 2010. Lantra works with its 230,000 businesses to champion the sector as professional, hi-tech and essential to the UK

New opportunities beckon says Lantra’s outgoing Chair

“These are exciting times for the environmental and land-based industries. I sense a real feeling of energy and determination to succeed amongst the increasingly hi-tech and professional micro businesses Lantra represents through skills provision, and here at Lantra we’re making sure we are reflecting that.”The words of Lantra’s Chair Dr Gordon McGlone as he prepares to hand over the reigns of the Sector Skills Council after eight successful years at the helm. His reflective mood continues, “During my time as Chair, I’ve seen our sector develop enormously. Today we see more and more 21st

Planning your future career?

With examination time well under way and the academic year almost over, for many now’s the time to start thinking about a choice of career. Lantra Sector Skills Council is encouraging people to consider the exciting and dynamic opportunities that are available in the environmental and land-based sector and are on hand to point you in the right direction.While work in this sector is often portrayed as being low paid, manual outdoor work with few opportunities for progression, this is far from the truth. As well as a variety of manual roles, the environmental and land-based sector provides a

COUNTDOWN TO NEW QUALIFICATIONS FOR COLLEGES

With just four months to go before new qualifications in the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF) are introduced to colleges, Lantra Sector Skills Council reports on the good progress being made in its work with awarding organisations and land-based training providers to ensure QCF is a real success.Twelve months so far in the making and it’s already clear that the new Qualifications and Credit Framework is proving to be a breakthrough in the way the skills of individuals in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are recognised and accredited. QCF allows people to ‘pick and mix’ what

Lantra training grant helps women tackle challenges at work

A £450 training grant has been proven to boost an astounding 92% of women’s confidence, a key factor in helping them tackle the challenges they face at work, according to research released today (13 May).The research report investigated the effects of Lantra’s Women and Work programme, which is designed to help women progress in male-dominated environmental and land-based industries across England including production horticulture. Although worryingly 75% of participants believe it is harder for women to progress into senior roles in their industry than men, the report does show that after