Hospitality Awarding Body to Work with UKs Work-Related Qualifications Body

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City and Guilds have welcomed another collaborative project announced by the Sector Skills Council (SSC) for hospitality, leisure, travel and tourism.

The Hospitality Awarding Body (HAB), the UKs specialist awarding council for the Hospitality and Leisure industry, is to be brought under the control of City and Guilds with effect from 1st October 2005. The move was announced last week by People 1st – the Sector Skills Council for Hospitality, Leisure, Travel and Tourism – and City & Guilds, the UKs leading awarding body for work-related qualifications.

It is planned that City & Guilds will invest in the development of the organisation to build on HABs customer focused business, as well as provide a strategic relationship to the benefit of the Hospitality, Leisure, Travel and Tourism sector. The move will further boost City & Guilds position as the leading awarding body in these industries.

Welcoming Two Strong Hospitality Players

The HAB, which currently awards over 50 NVQ, SVQ and VRQ qualifications through a network of over 500 centres, is the awarding body division of the Hospitality Training Foundation (HTF) – a charity, with a board of trustees nominated by the British Hospitality Association, the Restaurant Association and the British Beer and Pub Association.

People 1st CEO, Brian Wisdom, spoke of his confidence that the new partnership would help HAB’s continued growth and long term stability: “The transfer of HAB is a positive move for both People 1st and the wider Hospitality, Travel, Tourism and Leisure sector. This transfer means People 1st can build on its existing strategy and accelerate delivery in a number of key areas in particular the development of the Sector Skills Agreement between industry, Government and education.”

Chris Humphries, City & Guilds Director-General also welcomed last week’s announcement: “Both HAB and City & Guilds are very strong players in the hospitality industry. We hope to capitalise on our joint strengths for the benefit of all professionals within the industry, working in close collaboration with our centres and training providers.”

Existing HAB qualifications and services will continue as normal from 1 October 2005.

Michael Lloyd

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