Food Engineering Apprenticeship Launches

Employment and Learning Minister, Dr Stephen Farry today launched an apprenticeship in Engineering in the Northern Ireland Food Sector.

The pilot Food Engineering apprenticeship has been designed by a number of leading Northern Ireland's top food manufacturing companies in partnership with the Department, Southern Regional College and the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise with training taking place at Southern Regional College's Portadown campus.

Employment and Learning Minister said: "The importance of the agri-food sector to Northern Ireland’s economy cannot be underestimated. As Co-Chair of the Food and Drink Future Skills Action Group, I work directly with leading employers from the sector to develop and implement solutions such as this apprenticeship programme to address the skills gaps of the existing workforce and to raise the skills levels of new entrants.

"The development of the Food Engineering Apprenticeship will provide participants with the skills and experience to take up exciting engineering opportunities in the food and drink manufacturing and processing sector. I am confident that this type of intervention will ensure a highly skilled workforce that will support the growth of this important sector.

"The programme also demonstrates a further output from the new Northern Ireland Apprenticeship Strategy 'Securing our Success'. I launched this strategy to ensure that apprenticeships are designed to engage directly with businesses, by responding to their needs in terms of ease of access, relevant training, incentives and support."

(CD)