Apprenticeship reforms see nhf salon owner visit downing street

As the next step of the government's apprenticeship reforms launches, an NHF salon owner and her apprentice were invited to 10 Downing Street to represent the hairdressing industry. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills invited NHF member Wendy Cummins, owner of Quiffys salon in Eastleigh, Hampshire, and apprentice Hayley Robertson, to attend the launch event - and demonstrate their skills for the assembled politicians and media. With hairdressing, barbering and beauty a key focus for the future of work-based training, a group led by Hellen Ward, managing director of Richard Ward Hair and Metrospa, and George Hammer, chairman of beauty salon Urban Retreat, will be providing advice and expertise supported by working groups of real salon owners and their staff. NHF chief executive Hilary Hall said: "We are absolutely delighted NHF members will be at the heart of our industry’s involvement in the government’s reform agenda for apprenticeships, both in terms of being trailblazers themselves and in helping to lead the working groups." The government’s ambition is to develop apprenticeships that can be explained on a single sheet of A4, work for both small and large businesses and which, crucially, will include relevant, practical testing and grading at the end of the training. Hayley said: “I felt really honoured to be asked to demonstrate, but it was definitely nerve-wracking! Hairdressing offers so much support to young people, so it’s only right salons have a say in improving training and opportunities.”