Even though the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) has been in force for over a decade, employers, employees, lawyers and medics still grapple with this highly complex area of law, in order to address the needs of those who are disabled within the employment arena.

Once again I have been on my travels, getting ideas from my successful peers. The latest of these have come from David Smart of Greenhalgh's, based in Bolton.

Independent retailers in the Republic of Ireland are set to feel the squeeze from large international players tempted by the market's impressive growth rates, according to a new report.

The Home-Grown Cereals Authority (HGCA) and Scotland Food & Drink has launched a new campaign called All About Oats, which aims to promote the health benefits of oats and encourage people to eat them.

Tighter spending and higher commodity prices will combine to make 2008 a much tougher year in the UK bakery market, according to business analyst Plimsoll Publishing.

Scotland's first Swedish bakery is to open at a multi-million pound development on the site of Edinburgh's former Royal Infirmary.

Is Allied Bakeries up for sale? Speculation is rife in the national press with city analysts pitching in (pg 3). It may well be the case, but I can't help wondering how much of it is also driven by the multiples forcing competition between the big brands - Warburtons, Premier Foods' Hovis and Allied's re-launched Kingsmill.

The price of crude oil has been on the rise all year. And all year the result has been increasing diesel and petrol prices for bakery distributors.

Dean's of Huntly has opened what is claimed to be Scotland's first-ever shortbread visitor centre.

McDonald's is revamping many of its restaurants with 200 outlets set to be 're-imaged' by the end of next year.

The Forum of Private Business (FPB) has called on the government to lift barriers preventing smaller businesses competing for contracts from public authorities.

Plans are well advanced for Farmhouse Breakfast Week 2008 from 20-26 January when farmers, producers and retailers are encouraged to celebrate the importance of a good breakfast.

Maple Leaf Bakery UK last week made the latest in a string of acquisitions, buying a Bernard Matthews bakery in Dunstable, Bedfordshire.

Speculation was mounting in the national press this week over the future of Allied Bakeries, if parent Associated British Foods (ABF) should decide to sell the business.

British Bakeries' Bradford bakery operation has been given a reprieve after production had started being wound down in October.

n Peter's Food Service, which makes Peter's brand pies, pasties and sausage rolls, has been named Business of the Year at the Caerphilly Business Awards. The awards is designed to recognise business achievement in the County Borough of Caerphilly in South East Wales.

November

T his is a classic, multi-layered, coffee and chocolate flavoured cake or slice, which appeared in Paris in the 1930s. It was created in honour of the Paris Opera House.

Tuesday 2 October

Directors have powers to take majority business decisions on behalf of companies. As such, various duties are imposed on them to ensure that the companies' interests are protected.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, one of the largest labour unions in the US, representing 1.4 million people, has announced a plan with Yucaipa Companies and Bimbo Bakeries USA (BBU) to purchase Interstate Bakeries, helping to save more than 9,500 jobs at the bankrupt firm.

Fast food chain McDonald's has announced that global comparable sales in its restaurants rose by 6.9% in October.

Carr's announced this week that operating profit in its milling business more than halved over the last year, to £1.1m (from £2.5m) on sales up 2.4% to £57m (from £55.7m).

Scotland's first Swedish bakery is to open at a multi-million pound development on the site of Edinburgh's former Royal Infirmary.

T he sandwich market is really buoyant and heading for a 9% rise this year, according to research from Mintel (pg 4). Certainly, the choice on offer from bakeries, coffee shops and supermarkets is phenomenal. The variety of breads, flavours of filling and healthy-eating options are all terrific. But there are two more comments about sandwiches in this week's issue that also made me think.

I enjoyed the BSB autumn conference for many reasons but, above all, for the ability to socialise and talk about general bakery issues other than just the prices of raw materials, which seems to have dominated us all in the trade for some time.

The European Independent Purchasing Company (EIPC), owned by franchisees of sandwich chain Subway, says it is now one of the biggest independent purchasers of food and paper in Europe.

Tension is mounting among the 70 entrants to the annual World Scotch Pie championship as they wait for the winner to be crowned on November 29.

I don't often go into bakeries. I usually just shop in Sainsbury's for cost and convenience.

UK Bakeries, a family-owned wholesale bakery based in Leicester specialising in baps and rolls, has called in administrators, blaming increased demand for wraps.

Sandwich chain Pret A Manger says it expects to sell around 70,000 Christmas Lunch special sandwiches a week over the eight-week festive season, after rolling out its Christmas range last week.

n Three armed robbers wearing balaclavas stole cash from a bakery in Long Melford village, Suffolk, last week. The men threatened staff and customers at The Patisserie with what is believed to be a shotgun and a baseball bat.

RHM owner Premier Foods claimed this week that its British Bakeries division had been the most efficient of the big plant bakers in putting up its bread prices to cover rising costs, but that its comparatively higher prices had hit sales volumes.

Fines totalling £33,500 have been imposed on two firms after a lorry driver was crushed to death at the Allied Bakeries site in Glasgow.

Staff at Sheffield bakery Fletchers have been holding talks with union representatives and legal advisers over proposed changes to their contracts, which they fear could cost them thousands of pounds in pay cuts.

The expansion of sandwich bars and the trend for healthy eating has turned sluggish performance in the sandwich market between 2002 and 2006 into an estimated 9% rise in the last year, says a new report.

Gerry Brownridge

Mini quiches are versatile and delicious snack products, which can be good enough to serve as a course at a dinner party.

No one has done more to capitalise on that ghastly sounding word 'premiumisation' over the last few years than Marks & Spencer. In fact, the retailer has gone to such lengths to drive this home to consumers that you could coin another P-word - pornographisation - to describe it, such has been the success of its occasionally lambasted but hugely successful 'This is not just food...' marketing, whose overtones rival only Nigella Lawson for titillating innuendo.

Who said you should never put all your eggs in one basket? Not Ruth Robinson, that's for certain. She is the founder of Ruthy's Scones - a name that doesn't lend itself particularly well to diversification. "I tried baking traybakes as well as scones, then realised everyone was making them, but the scones were unique!" she says.

You may be surprised to know that research carried out as part of the Cereals Industry Forum (CIF) has shown that the cereals industry in the UK has a weakness when it comes to new product development (NPD) and innovation.

Health and wellbeing have been huge trends in the UK bakery market for the past few years. And it seems that the rest of Europe is not far behind, as messages of heart health, digestive health and general wellbeing resonated through the busy Food Ingredients Europe exhibition halls in London's ExCeL last week.

T he eagerly-awaited Competition Commission (CC) report into the power of the supermarkets has arrived. Or, more accurately, a pre-report report, which precedes the report proper to be published next year, upon which we will report in due course.

In my newspaper recently, I read about the chief executive of a hospital trust, responsible for a hospital in Kent, which was apparently so dirty and badly managed that approximately 90 people died from Clostridium difficile (C.difficile), contracted while being treated.

The government announced last week that an estimated 6.7 million tonnes of household food and bakery waste is produced each year in the UK, which equates to approximately a third of all food shopping.

Fears of a continuing high street slowdown were confirmed in the latest CBI monthly retail survey, which found that sales growth was at its slowest for almost a year.

Tate & Lyle's adjusted profit before taxation was down 19% to £120m in the six months to 30 September, despite a modest 1% increase in sales, to £1.7bn.

The year is 2013. Tesco has passed the milestone of having a superstore in every square mile of Britain. The megalithic multiple is then granted planning permission to build a store on the side of a cliff.

Marks & Spencer says it is on target to remove 99% of artificial colours, flavours and preservatives from its bakery products by January 2008, as the retailer steps up its commitment to its Plan A corporate social responsibility strategy.

Heavy rain during the summer means there is probably not enough UK wheat to produce bread to our exacting quality standards in the coming year.

Scottish bakery ingredients manufacturer Ingram Brothers is moving to a purpose-built factory in Paisley close to Glasgow Airport.

Royal Cosun, parent company of Unifine Food & Bake Ingredients, has bought the French food ingredients specialist Caullet and its exporting business Caulinter for an undisclosed sum. Negotiations had been underway since May.

Experts have warned the baking industry against adding folic acid to flour or bread, linking an excess of the vitamin with increased risk of cancer.

Northern Irish bakery Irwin's has boosted its business in Great Britain with a contract to supply 200 Asda stores with five products from the Rankin Selection Irish breads range.

Travel and leisure foodservice operator SSP is extending trials of two new sandwich formats, Camden Food Co and Panopolis.

n The HGCA has collaborated with the Flour Advisory Bureau to produce a new multimedia educational resource called The Grain Chain (www.grainchain.com). This offers children aged five to 16 a fun way to learn about the 'field to fork' cycle of how wheat is grown and used to produce breads and cereals, plus advice on eating for health and vitality.

The National Association of Master Bakers (NA) has slammed the Competition Commission's report into supermarket power, accusing it of having "no concerns or interests about the viability of the high street or town centres".

The British Sandwich Association (BSA) is to beef up its code of practice, turning it into a health and safety guide for bakers, foodservice and retail sandwich bar operators.

Coca-Cola has announced the winners of a prize draw competition it ran at the recent Bakers' Fair North West on Sunday, 14 October.

Associated British Foods (ABF) said it had "stopped the rot" at its Allied Bakeries business as it posted preliminary results for the year to 15 September this week.

Bakers' shops have seen their share of the sandwich market slip in the past year with sandwich and snack bars and supermarkets growing their sales, according to a new report from market research company Key Note.

Once upon a time, in the Middle Ages, a Venetian baker's daughter was helping her father blanch and chop almonds to mix with a large portion of cake dough.

T he great thing about using malts in breads and cakes is that they can replace quite a bit of the salt and sugar." That statement, from Andy Janes, general manager - marketing, Muntons Malted Ingredients, should have the Food Standards Agency beating a path to its door to find out more.

Corporate social responsibility may be the buzzwords on everybody's lips, as green issues hit home with bakery manufacturers. But while some companies are ebbing with the tide of public opinion, others don't need a gun to the head to bring sustainability to the forefront.

Almond prices have remained firm on the back of a large shipment figure for September 07, according to Mark Setterfield, RM Curtis' MD, in the company's Edible Nuts & Dried Fruit Market Report: Sep-Oct 2007.

Brennans Bakeries in Dublin saw turnover rise 7% to €54.1 million (£37.69m) in 2006, with operating profits up by 28% to €5.41m (£3.77m). An €80,000 interest payment boosted pre-tax profits to €5.49m.

Icelandic giant Bakkavör said that the 'toughest trading conditions in decades' had affected the group's performance, as it revealed its results for the first months of the year last week.

Gwen Clark, who died on 15 October 2007, aged 91, was one of the great characters of the old London Region of the National Association of Master Bakers (NA), writes Tony Cavan. She helped to run Clark's Bakery in Ealing until the death of her husband, Leslie, in 1972. She continued to support the London Ladies Section for many years and organised its Summer Dinners at the Bell House Hotel, Beaconsfield, which raised generous contributions for trade charities.

Boils need to be lanced, ears need to be unwaxed and tongues need to be bitten. That's the rather messy - and painful-sounding - scenario facing those charged with bringing the disparate elements of the industry together to create a unified voice for skills training, following turning-point talks between student leaders and sector skills council Improve this week (pg 5).

Forget all the hype around possible elections. Tucked away in Gordon Brown's speech a few months ago at the Labour Party Conference in Bournemouth was a real gem: the PM talking about how he wanted the UK to be leading the global economy, with modern manufacturing at the heart of his vision of the future.

Glastonbury-based Burns the Bread won 'The Best' West Country Baker' award at this year's Western Bakery Championships, while St Mary's Bakery in Torquay won the Open Confectionery Championship for the second year in a row.

Nine members of the Richemont Club of Great Britain, led by club president Trevor Mooney, recently attended the annual meeting of Richemont presidents in Croatia.

Members of the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) last week launched a five-pronged commitment to make a difference to the environment in areas where they felt they make the biggest impact.

The Village Bakery in Melmerby, Cumbria, has announced that it will package its bread range in biodegradable and compostable bags.

Maple Leaf Foods' UK bakery business was one of the star performers highlighted by senior executives of its parent company, as it announced third-quarter results for the Canadian-based food giant last week.

Bakers are being urged to back a proposed Centre of Bakery Excellence in the UK, to tackle the skills crisis facing the industry. Details of the Centre will be thrashed out over the next five months, culminating in a summit meeting of industry stakeholders at the Baking Industry Exhibition on April 6 to 9 2008, at the Birmingham NEC.

Staff at Warburtons are to be reballoted on plans for strike action after their union feared that an initial vote earlier this month had been affected by the postal dispute.

Savoury pastry manufacturer Peter's Food Service was acquired by its management and NBGI Private Equity this week, in a £20 million buyout.

Yeast company GB Ingredients and sister business BFP Wholesale have been bought by French-based yeast group Lesaffre for an undisclosed sum.

n Honeytop Speciality Foods has more than doubled its chiller capacity at its manufacturing plant in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, with a £250,000 investment.