Apprenticeships and Skills Conference

Exeter College, with 13,000 students, is an OFSTED Outstanding institution and a national leader in Green Skills education. Operating across 16 campuses, it is recognised as a Department for Education Expert Provider. The college has a strong national and international presence in advancing the Green Skills agenda, notably through it’s Green Skills Advisory Panel (GSAP). GSAP is a member-led committee comprising building services, housing, and construction businesses, supported by government agencies, charities, and training providers. Its mission is to equip both current and future workforces with the skills to embrace emerging technologies, reduce environmental impact, and support the journey to net zero.

Mahfia is a post-16 education specialist with over 20 years’ experience shaping policy, academic quality and regulation across regional skills, FE, and HE. They lead on skills policy for the Employment, Skills, Health and Communities Directorate at the West Midlands Combined Authority, working with senior leaders, regional and national partners and stakeholders to support delivery of the Region’s ambition to make the West Midlands the best place to live, work and visit.  

Chris Fletcher is the Executive Director of Skills Policy at the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, where he leads the  work on the Greater Manchester Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP). His team also manages the Chamber’s wider policy work, research and survey activities, including the influential Quarterly Economic Survey, and is responsible for publishing the Greater Manchester Index.

Chris joined the Chamber in 2003 and has worked across a range of policy areas during this time. Prior to this, he spent two successful years at the business education charity Young Enterprise, following a 16-year career at NatWest, where he held various roles including business manager positions focused on start-ups and early-stage growth businesses.

He has chaired and participated in numerous groups for both public and private sector organisations and has a strong interest in how policy influences economic regeneration, transport, and innovation.

Stephen has been chief executive since 2016, having spent two years previously as deputy chief executive. He joined from Working Links, where he led on policy, strategy and business development. Prior to this, he worked for the London Development Agency as director of employment and skills, commissioning programmes and leading the work of the London Skills and Employment Board; was chief economist at the Social Market Foundation; and spent six years as senior policy advisor in HM Treasury working on policy for skills, productivity and child poverty.

Louise Cairns is highly-respected among business directors, training leaders, and sector policy-makers for her deep knowledge, extensive expertise, and significant influence across the food and drink sector’s skills landscape.

Initially a graduate at Brighton University Louise worked in a number of leading companies before founding her own successful training and skills consultancy business with a special interest in apprenticeships.

Joining the NSAFD in 2007, Louise was appointed CEO in 2018 having, among other achievements, helped a diverse range of sector businesses to prepare for and make best use of the Apprenticeship Levy.

She has been involved in a range of initiatives aimed at advancing workforce skills and setting employer-led standards including many Food & Drink Apprenticeship Trailblazers, and represents the sector within the National Manufacturing Skills Task Force — the strategic board that helps shape Government policy on emerging UK workforce skill gaps while maintaining and protecting the talent pipeline for manufacturing as a whole.

Under her leadership, the NSAFD has become a successful, standalone, not-for-profit organisation totally focused on meeting the current and emerging skill needs of UK food and drink manufacturers and processors of every size in every part of the country.

Her most recent accomplishments include leading the development and introduction of the NSAFD’s Food & Drink Careers Passport – a pre-entry qualification for job-seekers wanting to enter the industry that ensures they have the basic knowledge sector employers want in Food Safety, HACCP, Health and Safety, and Allergen Awareness when taking up entry-level roles.

The Passport is now widely recognised as an employability tool by food businesses across the UK with many offering guaranteed interviews or other forms of preferential recruitment consideration to holders.