Officials from the baking industry have defended their training procedures after new research revealed a fall in training figures.
BMG Research has conducted a report on behalf of Improve, the food and drink sector skills council, which revealed firms have arranged or funded 17 per cent less training sessions this year compared to 2010.
However, representatives of the sector have refuted claims that the new statistics show the market is failing to prepare for the future.
Gordon Polson, director of the Federation of Bakers, claimed firms in the plant baking sector maintain the same staff members for a long-period of time, therefore training sessions are only held at intermittent times.
He told British Baker Magazine: "We are not aware, and nobody has intimated that they'll be reducing their training."
A number have firms have maintained their training levels throughout the economic downturn, such as Northamptonshire-based bakery Dunn's of Crouch End, who have trained ten staff members over the past 12 months.
Typical Guttridge equipment used in the baking industry includes; hoppers – mobile loading hoppers – flexible bulk containers
