REPRESENTATIVES from a pie firm are set to meet Home Secretary Jack Straw in a new move to improve race relations in industry.

Walter Holland & Son of Baxenden are one of 18 firms in the North West taking part in the Race for Opportunity initiative organised by the Business in the Community Organisation

Leaders from the firms are to meet Blackburn MP Jack Straw at a private breakfast meeting.

Mr Straw will ask the firms to set an example in the way they treat ethnic minority employees, customers and suppliers.

Race for Opportunity aims to encourage business to become more aware of and benefit from the business opportunities available from the ethnic minority population.

"We are convinced that it makes good business sense not to waste the huge pool of talent that ethnic minorities can bring to a company," said Susan Lax, one of the North West employers taking part.

Recent research has estimated that within the next 50 years one in five workers will be from an ethnic minority background.

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