Latest figures released by B&Q, the UK's leading home improvement and garden centre retailer, show that over 17,000 of its employees have either enrolled on or completed a work-related qualification this year. More than 50% of their workforce has studied towards a Retail Skills NVQ, Home Improvement Knowledge Qualification or Retail Apprenticeship, developed in partnership with City & Guilds.

B&Q is now the largest user of City & Guilds qualifications in the retail sector. To mark this milestone the retailer will be rolling out new badged aprons to its store teams so that customers will know that they are being served by an expert with a City & Guilds qualification.  The new aprons will be in store by Christmas.

Edwina McQueen, Head of City & Guilds for Business, says: 'We're very excited about the investment and focus that B&Q is giving to its qualifications programmes. Their attitude to diversity and their commitment to qualifying tens of thousands of their employees makes their scheme the biggest and most innovative in the industry. Companies who continue to invest in their people even during the most economically challenging times will be the ones who win at the end of the day.'

Euan Sutherland, CEO of B&Q and Kingfisher UK, says: 'Investing in qualifications will help B&Q further achieve its aim of having friendly expert staff of all ages, and give our customers confidence that they are being advised by staff who are knowledgeable and able to offer trusted advice.

'If you walk in to B&Q and meet a friendly person with a badge saying they've got a City & Guilds qualification, you're going to know you're getting expert advice - City & Guilds is a powerful brand. This level of expertise gives our people a real point of difference in the market place.'

In September B&Q announced the launch of its Showroom Academy, a training school designed to give its showroom employees even better product, service and design skills across kitchens, bathrooms, furniture, carpets, flooring and show room appliances in the run up to its biggest ever Showroom January Sale. As more and more customers choose to improve their homes rather than move, B&Q is growing its showroom business and in May of this year announced an £18m showroom expansion plan. A total of 4,000 employees, aged 16 to 82 and across the chain's 330 stores in UK and ROI, have completed a City & Guilds approved, nationally recognised Home Improvement Knowledge Qualification. The Academy represented an investment of around £2 million.

This year the retailer has also launched its apprenticeship programme, and with employees aged from 18 to 70, the scheme is believed to be the most diverse apprenticeship scheme in the industry. The Apprenticeship is a 12 month programme of learning and qualifications that they will complete while doing their job giving them the skills, knowledge and confidence to progress their career in their chosen field.

There are three skills pathways for B&Q's City & Guilds qualification offer this year:

• NVQ (National Vocational Qualification) Retail Skills Level 2 - a nationally recognized qualification, City & Guilds approved and audited externally
• Home Improvement Knowledge Qualification (HIKQ) - product knowledge and project selling in decorating, gardening, building and room solutions
• A Retail Apprenticeship Programme.

The qualifications are open to all non-management colleagues of all ages. B&Q employs 33,500 employees and 28 per cent are over 50 and around 8 per cent are over 65. Most company apprenticeship schemes are only open to ages 18-25 which also makes B&Q's scheme unique as there are no age limitations - even B&Q's oldest worker Sid Prior, aged 95, who works at the chain's flagship New Malden eco-store could be eligible to apply for an apprenticeship. The investment in skills offers real opportunities across all ages of employees to get an externally recognised qualification.
 
In April of this year, B&Q picked up the Global Gallup Great Workplace Award. It is the third consecutive year it has won the award and is the only UK business awarded. The Gallop Great Workplace Award is based on the most rigorous workplace research ever conducted and honours organizations whose employee engagement results demonstrate they have the most productive and engaged workforces in the world.

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Notes to editors:

• The Gallup Great Workplace Award awarded B&Q the Gallup Workplace Award for the last three years and is the only UK business awarded
  
• B&Q is the largest home improvement and garden centre retailer in the UK with 331 stores, employing around 34,000 people nationwide, more than a quarter of whom are over 50 years of age, with a similar number under the age of 25. For more information about B&Q please go to  http://www.diy.com/aboutus.  
• B&Q is part of Kingfisher plc, Europe's leading home improvement retail group and the third largest in the world.  For more information about B&Q's parent company visit  http://www.kingfisher.com/.
  
• City & Guilds (http://www.cityandguilds.com/) is the expert and leading authority in vocational education and training - both in the UK and beyond. In operation for the last 130 years, City & Guilds is the UK's leading awarding organisation for work-related qualifications. Twenty million people in the UK have City & Guilds qualifications, and the organisation awards a further 1.6 million qualifications to learners every year.