The National Bakery School at London South Bank University is consulting with the industry on new apprenticeship standards.

The university wants to find out from employers whether there is demand for a new apprenticeship standard for ‘Baker’ (Level 2) and ‘Advanced Baker’ (Level 3) to help address the industry skills shortage.

David Hall, managing director of The London Bread & Cake Company, said employers in the sector were spending more than £6m a year, mainly on recruitment, in an effort to combat the problem.

Hall, who supports the new apprenticeship standards, said these would be part of a solution to the skills gap problem, by helping employers reduce spend in the long-term and providing support for recruiting new talent to the sector.

Founded in 1894, The National Bakery School is described as the oldest bakery school in the world and is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year.

“LSBU’s National School of Bakery is an institution with a proud 125-year history of training bakers for the baking and hospitality sector, while working with employers to seek their views on shaping the delivery of bakery standards/programmes,” said National Bakery School course director Elaine Thomson.

“We are keen to sound out the sector’s views, to establish the likely level of demand for these standards while obtaining industry guidance concerning the best delivery method available.”

Businesses can give their views on the apprenticeship standards here.

Last year, Cornish businesses partnered with Truro and Penwith College to design the Craft Baker (Level 2) Apprenticeship Standard.