Description of the contract
The Rural Development Programme is being delivered throughout Wales from 2014 -2020. It presents the opportunity for projects to be financially supported which benefit the community and rural economic growth.
The Vale of Usk Local Action Group (LAG) was established in January 2014 to oversee the governance, strategic direction and successful delivery of the Vale of Usk 2014-2020 Local Development Strategy which is funded via the Rural Development Programme (RDP) and Welsh Government. The Vale of Usk LAG territory covers the rural wards of Monmouthshire and Newport.
The key support areas are broken down into 5 themes. For the purpose of this brief the theme is:
“To identify pre-commercial rural enterprises, to engage through a rural mentoring network, business to business supply network, targeted towards sector specific beneficiaries”. In this case the Catering and Hospitality Sector.
The LAG invites applications for funding and has received an application to commission a comprehensive study into the development of sustainable catering education in the region.
Monmouthshire County Council on behalf of the LAG is seeking to appoint a suitably qualified and experienced consultant to undertake an innovative approach to this commission.
2. Context
The Vale of Usk is a high quality food tourism destination, Monmouthshire has the enviable status of food capital of Wales with a wealth of award winning food and drink producers in the Vale of Usk; numerous high profile chefs and Michelin-starred restaurants as well as the Abergavenny Food Festival.
Building upon this reputation this study seeks to understand the catering education needs in the Vale of Usk area, with a view to developing it as a centre for culinary and culinary education excellence.
While there is a reliance on the public sector as the main employer (33.3%), distribution , retail, hotels and restaurants come a close second with 27.4% of people employed in those named sectors – source Local Development Plan 2011 – 2021.
A scoping study is required which takes into account:
• The current national, regional and local strategic context of the education and food sectors;
• The current and future skills needs of the catering and hospitality sectors in the Vale of Usk and the wider South East Wales region;
• The current career trends amongst students e.g., are the intakes for catering and hospitality courses increasing;
• Current catering and hospitality education provision in both the education and apprenticeship sectors and any associated gaps in provision; and
• Any significant catering and hospitality capital projects that are on the horizon and the associated employment and skills needs.
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