British Bakeries, one of the UKís largest bread bakery companies, has opened an on-site flexible learning centre in Newcastle to provide opportunities for personal growth for all its employees.

The learning centre represents British Bakeriesí commitment to lifelong learning as part of the national Partners in Progress declaration signed in 2000 between the company and seven leading trade unions.

The partnership agreement, which represents all 6,500 British Bakeries employees through seven leading trade unions, incorporates mutual recognition and respect between all stakeholders in the business, particularly the right to respect and dignity at work.

As part of the agreement, British Bakeries - the makers of Hovis, Mothers Pride, and Nimble bread - committed to greater investment in employee training and development.

Access to training

The learning centre, which will be open 24 hours a day to accommodate shift patterns, will include 13 PCs and laptops for British Bakeries Newcastleís 300 staff to access both vocational and non-vocational learning and training.

Individual and team training and development needs will be identified to ensure the centre can provide tailored training to all employees.

The centre has been partly funded through the union Learning Fund, secured with help from the Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU) and the TUC, and the Tyne & Wear Learning and Skills Council.

learndirect and Newcastle College both advised on course content and delivery. All five partners will oversee the running of the centre to ensure its continuing success.

Offering staff lifelong learning opportunities

Peter Baker, managing director of British Bakeries, said: "The learning centre represents British Bakeriesí determination to be a progressive employer and to offer our staff lifelong learning opportunities through the groundbreaking Partnership in Progress agreement. "This initiative would not have been possible without the successful partnership between ourselves and the BFAWU, TUC, LSC, learndirect and Newcastle College."

Gillian Miller, director of workforce development at the Tyne and Wear Learning and Skills Council, said: "I would like to congratulate British Bakeries on the successful opening of their learning resource centre - an important achievement in supporting lifelong learning in the workforce.

"Development of the workforce is a key target area for the Learning and Skills Council, Tyne and Wear. The introduction of the learning resource centre at British Bakeries is an excellent example of partners working together to achieve improvements in workforce motivation and performance, to benefit the competitiveness of the company."