The UK head of education for fast food giant McDonald’s is set to become England’s new apprenticeship boss, FE Week can reveal.
Sue Husband is to fill the shoes of David Way, who stepped down as director of the Skills Funding Agency’s apprenticeship division in August after 38 years in the employment and skills sector.
The agency put the director of apprenticeships and delivery services role out to advert in December with a £100,000 a-year salary.
Ms Husband is expected to have responsibility for the delivery of employer engagement and the National Apprenticeship Service with, according to the job advert “an outward-facing role with employers, colleges and training organisations, promoting the benefits of apprenticeships to employers and embedding the new relationship between the agency, employers and providers”.
She started at McDonald’s in 1987 when she was 16 years old and studying for her A-levels. She worked her way up through the company from serving customers and working in the kitchen to being appointed head of education in 2007.
Ms Husband was in charge of training at McDonald’s when its apprenticeship scheme received a grade two rating from Ofsted, in November 2010, following the company’s only inspection to date. According to her LinkedIn profile, her McDonald’s job title is national education manager at McDonald’s Restaurants Ltd — UK.
An agency spokesperson said: “We can confirm that Sue Husband will be taking up the post of director of apprenticeships and delivery service later this year. She is currently education manager at McDonald’s UK.”
The agency paid McDonald’s £10.5m in 2010/11, £6.8m in 2011/12, and £5.1m in 2012/13. As of January this year, the firm was allocated £4.8m for 2013/14 from the adult skills budget and £5.3m for 16 to 18 apprenticeships. Learndirect is a subcontractor allocated, as of January 2014, £4m for delivering online English and maths functional skills training to its learners.
McDonald’s offers level two intermediate apprenticeship in hospitality and catering.
The firm’s website said its apprentices “learn about customer service, food preparation and the importance of keeping things clean. They also find out about the business and what we do for local communities and the environment”.
McDonald’s is yet to comment.
Your thoughts