Are you up on your acronyms?

AT, BHA, BLRA, BTEC, CBI, COSHH, EHO, FEFC, GNVQ, GSVQ, HCITB, HCTC, HND, IIP, ITB, ITO, LEC, NCVQ, NETTs, NVQ, OLPS, RAGB, RWE, SVQ, Scotvec, TEC, TFW, UCAS and YT. Do you recognise any of these acronyms? If you can get more than three or four then you obviously know a lot about training in the hospitality industry.

The 29 acronyms listed above are printed no less than 564 times in Training - Who Needs It?, a damning report on how the industry trains its staff, published by the Hotel & Catering Training Company, perhaps better known as the HCTC.

The provision of training is confusing, and difficult to get to the bottom of unless you are deeply committed. Too much jargon (including acronyms) is part of the problem: is it any wonder that most caterers are ignorant about many aspects of training availability?

Of course, it would be wrong to single out the report's authors for using too many acronyms. It has been written for those involved in training rather than ordinary caterers.

But the jargon surrounding education provision is endlessly spouted in the industry by those in the know, to the frustration and irritation of those who aren't. It plays into the hands of those who mock training and education: to them it proves that academics live in ivory towers and have nothing to offer those inhabiting the real world.

And, as a survey of caterers conducted for the report reveals, the gulf between those who take training seriously and those who do not is enormous. Take NVQs or SVQs (National or Scottish Vocational Qualifications), for instance. One would have thought that the publicity surrounding them would have at least made people aware of them.

But no, almost one third of employers didn't even know they existed. And of the remainder, only one in five were planning to introduce them in the future. Other figures were equally shocking: 82% of employers didn't know what services were provided by TECs/LECs (Training and Enterprise Councils/Local Enterprise Companies), 74% didn't know what IIP (Investors in People) was and 47% were not aware of the role of the HCTC.

The overall picture is of an industry that, with some notable exceptions, is confused about what training is on offer and largely indifferent to the potential benefits. With luck, this report will mark a fresh approach from the educational establishment and Government. Banishing jargon would be a good start.