College-based NVQ qualifications are failing to provide the hospitality and catering sectors with the skills required by both bosses and employees, warns People 1st.

The organisation – which is the Sector Skills Council for the hospitality, leisure, travel and tourism sectors – is developing a National Skills Strategy for the industry.

David McHattie, chief operating officer at People 1st, said that employers had no idea what college-based NVQs represented. Bosses were, however, finding that graduates lacked the skills that they needed.

He argued that NVQs were never designed to be delivered in colleges and that they did not provide a nationally-recognised benchmark

People 1st will begin to address this lack of consistency when it unveils a new college-based qualification for chefs in September that will be closer to the old City & Guilds 706 qualifications.

To read McHattie’s views in full read his News Comment >>

People 1st: We need industry support >>

People 1st launches new website >>

By Angela Frewin

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