Retail remains a high employment sector \u2013 approximately 3 million jobs in the UK. More people are involved in retailing than in any other single industry in the country.<\/p>
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There were 84,000 vacancies in the retail sector as of August 2019.<\/p>
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In 2018, Government established the industry led Retail Sector Council to bring Government and industry together to boost the sector\u2019s productivity and economic health. The Council has agreed its six priority work areas with four already underway. These are: Costs to Business, Skills and Lifelong Learning, Industrial Strategy and Employment workstreams.<\/p>
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As part of wider Government efforts to support adult training, we are also investing £100m to develop The National Retraining Scheme, which will help prepare adults for future changes to the economy, including those brought about by automation, and help them retrain into better jobs. This funding has allowed us to start delivering the first part of the service, Get Help to Retrain, whilst developing and evaluating as we build-up the scheme.<\/p>
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We have introduced Get Help to Retrain to 6 areas of England and we will be rolling it out across England in 2020. The digital service helps adults understand their existing skills and explore alternative occupations, and training opportunities to develop new skills.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4487", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Rochester and Strood"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Kelly Tolhurst"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2019-10-30", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "previousAnswerVersion" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1156127/answer/previousversion/2597", "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4487", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Rochester and Strood"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Kelly Tolhurst"} } , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2019-10-30T16:34:08.477Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "201"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2019-10-24", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Retail Trade: Employment"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to prevent job losses in the retail industry.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/308", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Coventry South"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Mr Jim Cunningham"} ], "uin" : "4919"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1156135", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1156135/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
The Government is committed to helping communities adapt to market processes and we are taking action to help the high street evolve. In July 2019, my rt. hon. Friend the Prime Minister announced a £3.6 billion Towns Fund to re-energise local economies so that everyone can share in a new era of prosperity. This included £1 billion for the Future High Streets Fund, which will support local areas in England to renew and reshape town centres and high streets in a way that improves experience, drives growth and ensures future sustainability.<\/p>
We are also supporting local leadership with a High Streets Task Force, giving high streets and town centres expert advice to adapt and thrive. This will provide hands-on support to local areas to develop data-driven innovative strategies and connect local areas to relevant experts. The Task Force will also provide training and help to improve coordination between different groups working to improve their high streets which includes retailers.<\/p>
The Government has also established the industry led Retail Sector Council\u200b to bring Government and industry together to boost the sector's productivity and economic health. The Council has established its six priority workstreams which includes the Industrial Strategy with a focus on place. The Council has identified high streets as an important area to be considered on an ongoing basis.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4487", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Rochester and Strood"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Kelly Tolhurst"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2019-10-30", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "previousAnswerVersion" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1156135/answer/previousversion/2598", "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4487", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Rochester and Strood"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Kelly Tolhurst"} } , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2019-10-30T16:33:04.917Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "201"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2019-10-24", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Retail Trade"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps her Department is taking to support discussions between local governments and the retail industry to help ensure a joint approach to draw consumers to the high street.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/308", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Coventry South"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Mr Jim Cunningham"} ], "uin" : "4920"} ], "itemsPerPage" : 10, "page" : 0, "startIndex" : 1, "totalResults" : 2, "type" : ["http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#ListEndpoint", "http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#Page"]} }