Hospitality apprenticeships and youth strategy webinar

Deborah Woodcock has been a Civil Servant since 1999 when she started as a Farm Inspector with the Ministry of Agriculture. In 2000 she moved to HMRC to work in Pensions and eventually as a Tax Inspector.  She spent a further 10 years in various operational leadership roles within HMRC and then joined the DWP in 2020 as a Group Director for the North and East Midlands - having accountability and responsibility for the operation and delivery of 93 Jobcentre sites. Debbie is now the group director for Strategic Relationship Team (SRT). SRT oversee relationships with national and strategic employers, partners and trade bodies. They have responsibility for the Rapid Redundancy Service; the governments Find a Job site and set the direction for the employer and partnership community as a whole. Debbie is based in Northwest Leicestershire.

Umar Akram is the Head of Youth Strategy, Policy and Engagement at the Department for Work and Pensions.

Umar’s team has responsibility for setting the cross-government strategy to reduce the number of young people not in education, employment and training; leading policy design of the Youth Guarantee in collaboration with Mayoral Strategic Authorities and the Department for Education; and leading the Youth Guarantee employer engagement strategy.

Prior to working at the Department for Work and Pensions, Umar held multiple strategy and policy roles at HM Treasury working across economic and fiscal policies including public spending, personal tax, infrastructure and global financial markets.

Sandra is the Skills Director at UKHospitality and leads the drive for an employer-led approach to skills in the hospitality sector. Her focus is to ensure there is a strong talent pipeline from education into employment at every level, with options to continue learning in workplace.

Prior to joining UKHospitality in May 2022, Sandra worked as the Skills and Policy Director for People 1st International. Sandra has worked in hospitality for over 30 years in operational, learning and development roles.