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UXBRIDGE, England, May 7 /PRNewswire/ — The National Skills Academy for Hospitality has been given the greenlight after the bid was approved by government this week. The success of the bid - co-ordinated by People 1st - will mean that overGBP100 million of government funding will be shifted into developing talentfor hospitality employers. An estimated 65,000 learners are expected to pass through Academyapproved programmes in the next five years. Minister for Skills, David Lammy said: “Hospitality is a vibrant anddynamic industry that plays a key and growing role in the success of the UK.The government is committed to supporting the sector as it strives to improveand renew its skills base. This new Academy will not only help the industrystay competitive, but will enable thousands of people to gain the skills andconfidence to build successful and rewarding careers.” Tourism Minister Margaret Hodge said: “This is excellent news for thetourism industry, and an important step in improving the skills of ourworkforce, enabling them to get jobs and develop their careers with the bestin the business. Strengthening the level of hospitality training through theacademy will help to raise standards, as well as giving people the bestpossible boost to their careers. I’d like to congratulate everyone who hassupported this bid and I look forward to working with all Academy members.” People 1st chief executive Brian Wisdom commented: “The news is a welcometonic for our industries which face many competitive pressures. The bid hasenjoyed the phenomenal support of a large number of leading employers,responsible for over 20% of the sector’s staff, and we look forward towelcoming the first students as early as this September.”The Academy will deliver talent for hospitality employers - showcasingthe very best, and raising the bar by developing world class training.”Rising costs and greater competition for a diminishing young workforcehave made life more difficult for our employers, so we are delighted to havesecured over GBP100 million of funding for one of our industries. This is atruly massive achievement, and gives us the opportunity to compete with othersectors of UK PLC.”The scale of this shift in funding is a first and all the partners’ hardwork and support has allowed us to pull this together for the industry. Thedevelopment of the Academy is a key part of our National Skills Strategy, andprovides the platform for ensuring the high calibre entry routes into thesector are the best in UK PLC.” The announcement marks the dawn of a new era in education and trainingfor the hospitality industry, with employers working in partnership withAcademy centres to design and deliver challenging and robust programmes tostretch the best, most capable learners. The Academy will consist of a number of new and unique cutting edgetraining environments. Hotel and restaurant schools will be established inmajor cities, designed to run on a true commercial basis while recruiting anddeveloping learners, and joined by the best colleges serving the hospitalityindustry. Barceló Hotels, Compass Group plc, Terry Laybourne and the EdgeFoundation are investing over GBP14 million between them to develop thesefacilities, and they are joined by organisations from across the sector thathave dedicated staff time and resources to support Academy operations. These include InterContinental Hotels, McDonalds Restaurants, PremierInn, Paramount Restaurants, Sodexho, De Vere Hotels, Accor Hotels, Aramark,and London hoteliers who have united to develop a Virtual Hotel Academy inthe capital. Notes for editors 1) The National Skills Academy Bid was co-ordinated by People 1st, theSector Skills Council for Hospitality, Leisure, Travel and Tourism 2) The National Skills Academy Network currently has seven active sectorsthat will be joined by hospitality - construction, fashion retail, financialservices, food and drink manufacturing, manufacturing, process industries,and nuclear. 3) The hospitality industry is one of the fastest growing in the UKeconomy. 1.6m people work in 155,000 businesses and 770,000 new andreplacement staff will be needed by 2014. For further information contact Edward Davies, edward.davies@people1st.co.uk or Lara Wisdom, lara.wisdom@people1st.co.uk, telephone 44(0)1895-817000.People 1st