National Skills Shortages Strategy

SKILLS NEEDED IN THE WORKFORCE

Commercial Cookery

The Final Task Force Report and Action Plan has been released with the Task Force prioritising five key areas for action:

leadership and coordination;
developing young people for careers in Commercial Cookery;
marketing and promotion of the industry;
making New Apprenticeships work for the industry; and
enhancing the professionalism of the industry.

Initiatives to address skill shortages focus on recruitment and retention and include the production of career education materials, including a commercial cookery careers website (www.chef.org.au).

Three broad recommendations are made in the Report:

an extension of the work of the Task Force, to enable it to research, develop and implement action plans covering skill needs and shortages in all significant occupation groups in the hospitality industry on a ‘whole of industry’ basis;
an ongoing commitment to high-quality recruitment and retention programmes in Commercial Cookery, and avoidance of any tendencies to a ‘stop-start’ approach; and
increased funding for Commercial Cookery training, especially Certificate III Apprenticeships, and Certificate IV training.

Working Group

Members RTF file(10kb)