Letters

Offering a helping hand on disability matters

 

We were delighted to read the Info zone article about new rules on discrimination. It's great that hotelkeepers and restaurant employers are being kept informed about this important new legislation.

 

The Disability Consultancy is an organisation formed specifically to help customer-facing companies prepare for the Disability Discrimination Act. In our experience, many companies find it difficult to decide a way forward in this area because of conflicting advice. Our aim is to offer an interface between disabled people and the business market.

 

There are about 11 million people in the UK with disabilities, representing an annual spend of some £40b if you include relatives, friends and carers.

 

Disabled customer relationship management (or DCRM) can help customer-focused organisations increase turnover and footfall if the service and accessibility to their merchandise is more inclusive.

 

Des Hillier, Managing Director, The Disability Consultancy, Bury St Edmonds, Suffolk

 

Preparing an avocado went pear-shaped

 

So a chef is suing a former employer for £25,000 because he cut his finger while preparing an avocado.

 

Two-Michelin-starred Michael Caines must be chuckling into his empty sleeve at this! The RAF probably didn't reject Michael McCarthy because his finger was damaged, but because he was such a wuss.

 

Andrew Denny, Aylsham, Norfolk

 

‘Outsiders' have plenty to offer the hotel industry

 

Why is the hotel industry so blinkered when it comes to recruiting professionals from other disciplines? Recruiters should look for staff with transferable skills, energy and enthusiasm, not just "hotel" experience.

 

I would be very interested to learn from any hotel professional exactly what they think they will get from a candidate with "hotel" experience, as opposed to someone who can demonstrate the same skills but from a different industry. Is the difference tangible or is it snobbery?

 

I'm experienced within the NHS and voluntary sectors in building commercial relationships and providing customer service, but I'm regularly told that this isn't enough to join the hotel industry.

 

Andy Finlay, Business Manager, Southwell House Conference Centre, London, NW3, by email

 

Food service sector must learn to punch its weight

 

Tony Robson, managing director of Abbey Well, is right to be alarmed by press calls for the removal of vending machines from schools. Sadly, cost-sector suppliers have more than that to worry about.

 

While Tony is right to welcome the Department of Health "Food for Schools" programme, the talk around Westminster is that inertia has set in. Ministers of all departments are becoming increasingly exercised by recent advice from academics that proposes putting health and nutrition at the core of all Government planning and policy-making. This is, of course, a very good idea if planners succeed in making us regularly walk a little further and if we have integrated nutrition targets for public-sector catering that actually work.

 

The problem is that while a consensus exists that health- and nutrition-led planning will be adopted, it's in the nature of ministers and civil servants to hold back on current and new initiatives while they work out which department will drive the process.

 

It means that now is the time to apply pressure and influence the process in the interest of your business. The food service sector has been shy to punch its weight in the corridors of power (not something one could accuse the arms industry of doing!) It's a mistake to wait passively for the outcome of a process while every other interested party has plenty to say.

 

Robert janes, for your information - Public Affairs, fyipa@aol.com

 

Spanish link-up could prove fruitful in future

 

The regional administration of Murcia in Spain is looking for organisations or employers in the UK interested in providing short work placements for travel and tourism students. Such a programme could develop into a valuable, mutually beneficial contact for the right college, training provider or employer. Can anyone help?

 

Leila Seals, Department for Education and Skills, Strategy & Fundraising Division, Sheffield, Tel: 0114 259 4722

 

Personal hygiene leaves a lot to be desired

 

I'm looking forward to this year's Hotelympia, but something very disturbing struck me at the last event. I was stunned by the number of men who walked out of the toilets without washing their hands. If you visit the exhibition and sample food products, be warned.

 

Jeremy Irving, by email

 

Don't believe farmed Salmon smear stories

 

I'd like to set the record straight about the safety of farmed Scottish salmon. It's clear to me that recent media coverage has been motivated by issues other than the safety or otherwise of farmed salmon.

 

It's my understanding that the original survey was commissioned by organisations that would gain greatly from a reduction in the volumes of farmed salmon. I'm also led to believe that a major environmental lobbyist was involved as well.

 

It's not unusual to see environmental lobbyists use health-scare tactics in a bid to curb the growth of the salmon industry or any other industry they consider a threat to the environment.

 

They aren't really interested in the health issue, but feel it creates more public interest than the environmental issue alone. Many of the anti-salmon-farming newspapers have been funded from this source, and so it's no surprise that they cast a negative slant on the salmon industry.

 

But what the smear campaign cannot do is alter the facts. Farmed salmon is not only safe to eat but provides much of what we need for good health. Indeed, removing this product from your diet would actually be detrimental to health.

 

Don't just take our word for that; read the information provided by the Food Standards Agency, the World Health Organisation or the American Federal Drug Administration. These agencies are impartial and simply report the facts.

 

If I felt the products we supply were likely to cause either short- or long-term illness, I would urge customers to remove salmon from their menus.

 

But we shouldn't be forced to remove farmed salmon from our diet based on misleading and inaccurate media reporting.

 

Jonathan Batchelor, DIRECTOR, RAMUS SEAFOODS, HARROGATE, NORTH YORKSHIRE