A CENTRE has opened to teach new skills to Nestl workers in York.

The company has opened The Employee Learning Centre, offering a range of general interest courses to staff. Courses include academic subjects like English, Maths and IT as well as practical courses including home plumbing and electronics.

The courses are organised through the network of trade union learning representatives at the factory.

Guy Redshaw, HR business partner at Nestl, said: "We wanted to offer employees at York the opportunity to learn and develop new skills - both for personal and professional reasons. Learning Spanish has been a popular course - perhaps for future summer holiday visits.

"The beginners' plumbing course has also been well subscribed to - particularly among female employees. It is hoped with more external providers joining the programme in the near future, the centre will be able to provide 'higher end' more diverse and technical courses."

Trainers on courses have come from a number of organisations including Future Prospects, Target Training, Family Learning and York College.

Updated: 10:07 Wednesday, June 23, 2004