Improve, the government skills council for food and drink manufacturing, will reveal the new framework for the vocational qualifications at the ceremony in Leeds. Improve has been developing the framework for the past two years.

The programme is geared toward helping the food manufacturing sector find and

train employees. The plan sets out what needs to be done to alleviate skills shortages in a changing industry, in order to improve competitiveness and productivity.

The range of qualifications will replace existing ones like those in meat and poultry, bakery, and general food and drink manufacturing.

Level two of the programme will feature new units of competency. These can be combined to create any of 10 different study pathways to qualifications in food manufacture, Improve said in a press release.

"The pathways, which will be identified in the title of the qualification, range from those that are sub-sector-specific, such as meat and poultry processing or craft bakery, to those that are function-specific such as production control or distribution," Improve stated.

The qualifications will give students the flexibility to pick and mix various units of study, which can be combined to build a qualification. At level three of the programme there will be six different pathways to a qualification.

Training organisations are currently developing the new qualifications, with the first of them expected to be available from September, Improve stated. The agency plans to create more study pathways and units in the future.

The reforms are central to the long-awaited qualifications framework for food and drink manufacturing, said Jack Matthews, Improve's chief executive.

"The tireless work that went into researching and devising the national occupational standards for food and drink manufacturing formed the back-bone of this framework, which will now allow employers the flexibility they have wanted for so long," he stated. "The system of accumulating units of learning is important because it recognises the limitations on study time available to those in employment."

Training providers will also be able to expand their offerings to employers, leading to an increase in the take-up of training, he added.

The new framework will also become one of the key structures helping to shape the work of Improve's new National Skills Academy for Food and Drink Manufacturing.

Employers attending the event at Leeds will be given a demonstration of a new electronic tool that Improve plans to put online to help compile the most appropriate learning choices for employees.

Potential trainees will answer a series of questions about job roles and learning needs and the tool will recommend choices and the most suitable combination of units.

Improve began working on the training qualifications about two years ago. It consists of a five stage plan. The fifth stage was completed earlier this year.

Stages four and five of the programme encapsulate agreements, between food and drink employers, stakeholders and other partners, on what actions are to be taken, individually and jointly, to address the skills gaps.

A skills needs assessment formed the first stage and provides an analysis of the current and future skills needed in the food and drink industry.

The UK's food and drink industry has one of the most poorly qualified workforces in the UK, according to Improve. About 19 per cent of the sector's workforce have no qualifications, compared to the average of 11 per cent for the total UK workforce.

One third of staff in the processing sector were found to have no qualifications at all.

Improve's forecasting showed that the food and drink industry needs to recruit 118,000 more employees to fill current job roles, opened by existing workforce retirement or migration to other industries.

The increasing automation across the industry means different skills are required from the workforce. With production lines becoming morecomplex and demanding the shortage of skilled workers in the UK industry is acute.

The UK'S food and drink manufacturing sector employs somewhere between 500,000 and 900,000 staff.