BII Level 2 Apprenticeship gets Government funding boost

The news was announced by chief executive Peter Thomas at the body’s first Apprenticeships Summit in Leicestershire last week.

It comes as event delegates admitted the pub industry can do more to convince young people that it offers a viable career path as opposed to just a “stop gap”.

The funding gap for BII apprenticeships is understood to have been one of the main reasons for a shortage in take-up for the schemes so far.

But the £4,983 to be made available to training providers — up from £2,600 — could see the programme’s take-up increase from this year.

“It’s a huge victory for BII,” said Thomas, thanking Cathie Smith, director of BIIAB, whom he described as being at the forefront of campaign for increased funding, after she called for an urgent review last April.

“Cathie successfully argued that the BII’s Apprenticeship programme will revoluntionise the licensed hospitality’s approach to training and qualification achievement, and will change public perceptions of the industry as a career.

"The BII Apprenticeship framework will offer sustainable employment and real business opportunities for young people, while helping small businesses and supporting partnership with licensing authorities and police."

Meanwhile, other speakers at the event, including BBPA chief Brigid Simmonds, said while many people are making a great career in the pub industry, it still suffers from perceptions that most jobs in it are “part-time” or “temporary”.

“There is this syndrome around pubs and bars and alcohol and there is so much work that is being done to move that section on, but we just all have to do a lot more,” said Simmonds.

She added: “What we are offering in terms of a career is so much wider than just standing behind a bar and pulling a pint. [But] I think it is a two-way process.

“We must do more to reach out to colleges and universities, and talk to people doing this training [about] what we want out of it.

“But younger people have also got to say ‘this is not a job I’m just going to do when I am at university — it is actually a career’.”

BIIAB international development director Alice Cardwell-Hodges added: “We’ve got to start speaking to secondary schools and having employers going in and advisors from the schools coming out to our industry.”

Trade consultant Phil Dixon said: “We’ve got to give career examples of where people can make a very good living by being professional in this sector, and we haven’t been able to embrace that.”