2018 Training Partner of the Year

In association with Scotch Butchers Club
This category is for the Employer/Business who has engaged with Scottish Meat Training and the assessors to maximise the potential of their apprentices.

Winner: Scotbeef

Brian Reilly at Scotbeef in Queenslie has seven apprentices at this time in his site. Each apprentice is given the full support of their employer through their course.

Brian has organised for each trainee to learn the skills required and has fully engaged with me as the assessor to always have the trainees ready for their assessments.

Brian has taken the responsibility to check that the knowledge and understanding for each unit has been completed by the trainee in time for the arranged visits also ensuring that the portfolios are ready for each visit.

Brian also does his best to accommodate with the full knowledge that the visits have to be arranged to see as many of his trainees as possible during my time on site.

Brian is always on hand to help if any problems occur during my visits and if he is not available then he makes sure his supervisor colleagues are available for me to contact.

Brian has always been very supportive of the apprenticeships that we deliver, so much so that Brian has been instrumental in developing apprenticeship availability at the other sites in the Scotbeef group.

Brian has persuaded his colleagues in Inverurie and East Kilbride to come on board and has also been involved in discussions to develop apprenticeship availability at Bridge of Allan. It has been agreed that Brian will liaise with his colleagues at the various sites to become an apprentice "champion" for the group.


Nominated by Gordon King
Assessor / Internal Verifier

Finalist: W T S Forsyth, Peebles

WTS Forsyth butchers in Peebles are worthy contenders for Training Partner of the Year.

Over the last two years I have had the pleasure of working alongside both Callum and Mike Forsyth as their apprentices undergo their modern apprenticeship qualification and speaking with previous assessors this business has always been that way.

Both Callum and Mike are very involved in the assessment process and honesty couldn’t do enough to accommodate me.

Over the years Forsyth’s have produced an extremely high level of apprentice simply by investing the time and effort with their apprentices in both skills and knowledge.

In my time as an Assessor they have not once cancelled a visit and are more than happy to accommodate me if someone in the area has, not just for myself but to ensure that the apprentice is getting as much tuition as possible.

For anyone that has ever had the pleasure of visiting WTS Forsyth Butchers and Bakers in Peebles will see that it is an extremely busy place and taking the time out to ensure adequate training and assessment may seem difficult but speaking with Callum he has stated that this is key to growing his business.

I truly feel that they deserve the recognition for the hard work and dedication that they put into each and every apprentice that walks through their door.

Nominated by Sean Graham
Assessor / Verifier

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