Awarding Body

Customer Service Statement

Centre Approval Process

• SCOTTISH BAKERS (SAMB) are the Awarding Body for Food Manufacture S/NVQ's in Scotland and the organisation responsible for the Approval of Centres to deliver Food Manufacture awards at the level’s 1, 2 and 3. 
• The terms and conditions of Approved Centre Status are set out in the SCOTTISH BAKERS  (SAMB) publication, “Guide to Approval for Training providers and Employers GA2”. This guide will be issued to all prospective centres who wish to seek centre approval.
• SCOTTISH BAKERS (SAMB)'s Guide to Approval explains how applications are processed and presented to the Training and Education Committee for an approval decision.
• This Committee meets frequently during the year and notification of approval decisions will be conveyed to applicant organisations within one week of the meeting at which the application was presented.

Awarding Body Quality Assurance Responsibilities

• Sector specialists External Verifiers  are appointed by SCOTTISH BAKERS (SAMB) to carry out External Verification visits to Centres and assessment sites.
• Approved Centres will be subjected to at least one External Verification (EV) centre visit per annum.  The Approved Centre will be communicated with by a letter, this will be sent to the recognised centre contact following a telephone call to arrange the date of the visit.
• Where there are larger numbers of assessors/verifies and assessment sites these will be sampled throughout the year by the external verifier on a programmed basis.
• An External Verifier will meet with the appropriate centre staff, arrange to have visits to assessment sites,  have access to assessment records for verification, verify training materials in use and observe candidates being assessed or speak with candidates on programme.
• External Verifiers will give immediate verbal feedback to the appropriate centre contact and will complete an external verification report for the centre.
• The centre contact for the awarding body will ask for feedback from the approved centre or assessment site following the external verification visit.

An official Centre Report will be generated and sent to the Centre Contact for the approved centre within fourteen days of the date of the External Verification visit.

Fees Payable

• Centres seeking approval shall agree to pay the fees currently in place at that time. Fees are reviewed annually and changes to fees are communicated by letter to centres with two months notice given of an implementation date.
• Current fees are available on a listing from SCOTTISH BAKERS (SAMB) Awarding Body.

SCOTTISH BAKERS (SAMB) Awarding Body Support Services

SCOTTISH BAKERS (SAMB)'s Awarding Body Centre Contact can be contacted at:-

SCOTTISH BAKERS (SAMB) Awarding Body
ATHOLL HOUSE, 4 TORPHICHEN STREET, EDINBURGH, EH3 8JQ

Telephone number:  0131 229 1401, Facsimile:   0131 229 8239

External Verifiers can be contacted through Atholl House.  Administration and finance staff are also available for contact through Atholl House.  SCOTTISH BAKERS (SAMB) will ensure that centres have ease of access to the Awarding Body Centre Contact or an External Verifer at all times.

SCOTTISH BAKERS (SAMB) Response Times

• SCOTTISH BAKERS (SAMB) are dedicated to providing fast responses to customer enquiries.
• A verbal message will be responded to within 48 hours, this will usually be within 24 hours.
• Written communications will be responded to within five working days.
• Receipt of an applications will be acknowledged within fourteen days

Training guidance and support materials are available as follows:-

Assessor Guidance

• Bound copy

Assessment Guidance 

• Bound copy

Candidate Achievement Records

• Level 1
• Level 2
• Level 3
• With or without ring binders

Training Materials

• Hygiene and Safety for Food Handlers (HS1)
• Level 1 Workbooks
• Level 2 workbooks for Retail & Service
• Level 2 CD Rom for Retail & Service
• Level 2 Rising to the Challenge
• Level 3 Support workbooks
• Core skill workbooks at Access 3 and Intermediate 1 Level

Certification      

The Food Manufacture Awards are accredited by the Scottish Qualifications.Authority and jointly certificated by SCOTTISH BAKERS (SAMB) and the Scottish Qualifications.Authority.  A joint certification fee is payable and the charge for this is detailed on the listing available.

Registration and Certification

Approved Centres will be responsible for registering and certification results being entered for their own candidates for specific units or group awards through the Scottish Qualifications Authority.

Feedback

Approved Centres will be given the opportunity to provide feedback to SCOTTISH BAKERS (SAMB) at or after annual External.Verification. visits and through the Accreditation unit of the Scottish Qualifications.Authority sampling of approved centres.

At times Centres Assessors and Internal Verification staff will be invited to attend SCOTTISH BAKERS (SAMB) professional development workshops, awarding body liaison meetings and workshops or information sessions.

Appeals process

SCOTTISH BAKERS (SAMB) makes provisions for two types of appeals:

• Centre Appeals
• Candidate Appeals

The appeals process is contained within the SCOTTISH BAKERS (SAMB) publication “Guide to Approval for Training providers and Employers GA1”

Appeals Committee

This comprises of:

• SCOTTISH BAKERS (SAMB) Awarding Body Centre Contact
• SQA Joint Partner Nominee
• SBTC Nominee

Any such appeal must be made in writing by the Approved Centres Contact and be addressed to SCOTTISH BAKERS (SAMB) Awarding Body Centre Contact.
 
Such an appeal would be held commensurate with the next Training and Education Committee Meeting or earlier if required due to timescale. Appeal decisions would be confirmed at the meeting and notified in writing within one week of the meeting to the approved centre contact.  These decisions are final.

Candidate Appeals

Guidance for a centres candidate appeals process is contained within the SCOTTISH BAKERS (SAMB) publication “Guide to Approval for Training providers and Employers GA1”

SCOTTISH BAKERS (SAMB) Responsibilities

SCOTTISH BAKERS (SAMB) are responsible for:

• the approval of a centre
• the approval of centres wishing to offer a  specific award or awards
• quality assurance of all approved centres and external verification
• the development and production of specific assessment guidance
• production and issuing of candidate achievement records (CAR’s)
• invoicing of centres in respect of Approval and External Verification fees
• liaison meetings
• accreditation and re-accreditation of specific awards

SQA Responsibilities

SQA are responsible for:

• allocation to approved centres a centre number
• the production, issue and processing of candidate registration forms or a registration and certification system for centres delivering  Scottish Vocational Qualification’s in bakery
• administering a system for candidate registration, entry and results
• checking of candidate achievement against conditions of award, recording of results and issue of certificates
• invoicing of centres in respect of relevant charges and fees
• notification to SCOTTISH BAKERS (SAMB) of candidate entries and certfication results

Approved Centre Responsibilities

Centres are responsible for:

• developing, administering and maintaining appropriate systems for Candidate Registration
  and recording of details of candidate achievement using the approved documentation.
• co-ordinating appropriate training and development for Workplace Assessors and
  Internal Verifiers.
• collecting the agreed documentation and forwarding certification results entries for all Candidates that the centre is applying for joint certification for.
• forwarding to SQA the appropriate fees as invoiced within the required timeframe
• forwarding to SCOTTISH BAKERS (SAMB) the appropriate fees as invoiced within the required timeframe
• returning to SCOTTISH BAKERS (SAMB) all quarterly statistics and forecasts as required

Ask Scottish Bakers

For more information please contact Scott Anderson, Trainig and Quality Manager at Scottish Bakers on scott@scottishbakers.org or 0131 229 1401.