NESTLE UK, which has its confectionary headquarters in York, is turning to youth employment to tackle a skills gap in the industry.

Off the back of a study, which revealed nine out of ten businesses felt young people left school ill-equipped for the workplace, Nestle embarked on a programme of work to address youth unemployment by helping youngsters gain employability skills.

As part of that programme Nestle has been working to foster strong relationships between businesses and schools within local communities by ensuring students, teachers and parents are informed of the options available and the benefits that each can bring.

The company has also been raising the profile of the food and drink industry to ensure that young people are aware of the opportunities on offer and understand the breadth of career choices available.

It is through this work that Nestle is entering for the Best Business and Higher Education Link award.

In addition, an innovative scheme that allows school leavers to 'earn while they learn' by placing them in a salaried training role at the same time as they study for a degree has been launched by Nestlé, in partnership with Sheffield Hallam University.

The Nestlé Academy Fast Start Programme is the first of its kind in the food industry and has already received hundreds of applications for the 12 places on offer, over half of which are in York.

James Maxton, head of corporate communication at Nestle said: "We recognised that our talent processes needed to change to reflect both internal and external factors, such as young talent not accelerating through the organisation, limited entry points and a lack of coordination across development programmes combined with the rising tuition fees and increasing youth unemployment.

"With the food and drink industry comparing poorly against other sectors as an employer of choice, we also recognised a need to revitalise our attraction strategy to engage young people with the wide range of interesting and exciting career opportunities, within Nestlé and across the food and drink sector more broadly."

The Nestlé Academy, created in York by the Nestlé Academy team, was launched in November 2011 to grow the firm's pipeline of high performing talent, developing the future leaders of the business.

Building on the existing Academy, Nestlé UK launched the European Youth Employment Initiative in November 2013 which will create 1,900 employment opportunities for young people over the next three years, including 300 paid work experience placements.