British Hospitality Association boss questions skills plan

The chief executive of the British Hospitality Association (BHA) has questioned the value of change for change’s without effective communication sake when it comes to tackling the skills crisis in the UK.

On the eve of the unveiling of the sector’s new National Skills Strategy led by People 1st, Bob Cotton has questioned how effective yet another shake-up will be if employers don't buy in fully.

In a posting on his blog, Cotton argues that as dire as the skills shortage is, a large part of the problem lies at the door of a raft of poorly thought through education initiatives over the past 20 years that have been "too frequent, too fast and typically far too complicated".

The net result of all this has been employers opting not to get involved and train their staff, he said.

Cotton warns that People 1st’s new skills strategy with its new aims and objectives, in craft, supervisory and management training and education, will be a hard sell to cynical employers and the organisation may be missing a trick.

"There is one persuasive word that’s missing from the Sector Skills Strategy: profit. It’s a word that everybody understands. Maintaining and enhancing profit is the reason why we need to train," said Cotton.

The National Skills Strategy will be unveiled in Westminster tomorrow.

Kitchen Rat - Skills crisis>>

Hospitality skills round-up>>

Don Davenport returns to People 1st>>

By Chris Druce

E-mail your comments to Chris Druce here.

Get your copy of Caterer and Hotelkeeper every week - click here to subscribe and save 25%.