Government disappoints curry industry
In a debate on the British Curry industry earlier today, Anne Main challenged the Further Education Minister over the lack of appropriate training to encourage young people into the industry.
In a debate on the British Curry industry earlier today, Anne Main, MP for St Albans, challenged the Further Education Minister over the lack of appropriate training to encourage young people into the industry.
Anne said:
"In St Albans we have many excellent of curry restaurants, and I know from my discussions with restaurateurs, including the award-winning Chad Rahman at Chez Mumtaj, that recruitment in the industry is a big problem and consequently there is a shortage of skilled kitchen staff in the industry.
The British curry industry contributes £3.2bn to the economy and employs 100,000 people, and yet recruitment problems mean many restaurants are struggling to survive. I have been working with those in the industry to try and get more young people to enter the curry industry, but support from the Government is desperately needed if this is going to happen.
The British Curry Industry tells me that they do not want to continue to try to fill skills training gaps by bringing in chefs from Bangladesh, yet they are unable to get any assistance from the Government in developing specialised catering qualifications such as an NVQ in curry and ethnic cuisine. At best, current training opportunities only give an NVQ in general catering. The industry wants a top-class training college established in London supported by the Government as a formally recognised further education establishment.
Leading lights in the industry such as Bajloor Rashid, president of the Bangladesh Catering Association, and Enam Ali, president of Spice Business Magazine, who attended the debate, are extremely concerned that young people are not encouraged to go into ethnic specialities within the catering industry and that there are no training opportunities or formal qualifications available. When there are vacancies within the industry and so many young people needing jobs and training this is totally unacceptable.
Sadly, the Minister's response did not show any willingness to address the issues, and in talks afterwards he dismissed the curry industry's pleas for help setting up a specialised catering college. I will continue to press this issue to ensure that the voice of the industry is heard."
Photo: Anne with an irate Enam Ali MBE FIH, Chairman of the Guild Of Bangladeshi restaurateurs and Founder of British Curry Awards, expressing his frustration to Further Education Minister following the debate.
